The Thing: Ellsworth Station
by James7912b
Summary: Following the destruction of Outpost 31, three survivors are rescued and taken to Ellsworth Station, but one of them is not what he seems. Feel free to read and review.
1. Chapter 1: Who goes there?

**Author's Note: **The John Carpenter film _The Thing_ was released in 1982, and presumably set in that year, however I have decided to change the setting to the present day which I hope isn't a problem. I'd also like to point out a few sites that have helped in the writing of this fanfic: The United States Antarctic Program Webportal, Antarctic Connection, and the Big Dead Place which is a tongue and cheek site created by actual Antarctic workers and features their takes on _The Thing _and all things Antarctic. Also I have to give credit to Australian author Matthew Reilly for writing _Ice Station _which provided me with inspiration. Additionally this story contains violence, profanity, and disturbing imagery so if you've read my other stuff you'll notice that this is more graphic.

Chapter 1: Who Goes There?

"_Trust not too much to appearances"-Virgil_

MacReady and Childs sat there in the dark, freezing Antarctic night and faced one another with trepidation. The two had been sitting there, passing a bottle of whiskey between them, and watching the fire of the burning camp die down. It had been close to half an hour since MacReady had caused the camp to blow sky high along with the creature that had been killing off Outpost 31's crew. A couple of minutes after the explosion MacReady had watched as Childs walked out of the darkness and took a seat across from him. Childs had claimed that he had run off into the dark after believing that he had seen something moving in the night.

MacReady could feel the icy cold biting him through his heavy clothes and knew that it was only a matter of time before he would succumb. He looked over at the dying fire, frowned, and took a swag of the liquor that Childs had passed back to him. He glanced to Childs and broke the silence, "Won't be much longer."

Childs knew what MacReady was talking about: death. They wouldn't last much longer out in the open. The thought pissed him off. He didn't want to die and even more so he knew he had to make one hundred percent certain that MacReady had actually killed the Thing, unless of course MacReady was the Thing, he couldn't be sure. _If it gets to the mainland…_He looked hard at the pilot and said, "We might actually stand a chance if we go down into the tunnels," he said referring to the tunnels that they had found when they had discovered that the Blair-Thing had been attempting to build an escape vehicle.

"With you?" MacReady asked skeptically, "All because I shared a drink with you doesn't mean I trust you."

"If you're concerned that I'm It you don't have to worry."

"How do you know I'm not It?" MacReady asked with a smile.

"I don't," but I think I'd rather take my chances in the tunnels then up here. At least there I'd go down swinging."

"Suit yourself Childs…I think I'm just going to stay right here and enjoy a nap."

"Stubborn ass."

MacReady smiled, "Better a stubborn ass than a dumb ass."

Childs cracked a smile at the comment; MacReady wasn't going to let death stop him from having a sense of humor, he then noticed that MacReady was looking right passed him at something. He turned his head and saw what MacReady was looking at: a figure was approaching them.

"What the hell?" said MacReady, "Who goes there?"

"Hey! Who is that?" yelled Childs to the approaching figure.

"Hey guys it's me!" came the reply.

"That's Nauls!" Childs said, "Nauls don't come any closer!"

"It might not be him!" cautioned MacReady who stood up and looked around for anything that could be used as a weapon.

"I swear to God guys I'm OK!" pleaded Nauls, "I'm me!"

"How'd you survive Nauls?" asked MacReady.

"I hid in a storage locker. The blast knocked it over but I made it!"

Childs turned to MacReady, "He could've survived in one of them," he said referring to the heavy duty metal gear lockers, "They're metal and pretty tough."

"How did you two live?" asked Nauls, "For all I know you're not you."

"Same goes to you Nauls," said Childs, "It might be one of us…Then again it might not be any of us."

"I'm not taking any chances or trusting either of you," said MacReady who started off toward the tunnel's entrance.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked Childs.

MacReady turned and looked over his shoulder at the two men, "You two could talk this over, I'm going to go and get out of the cold."

"I thought you were going to fall asleep and die."

"I changed my mind," said MacReady as he turned and walked off while muttering under his breath, "It was getting a little too loud for me to sleep with you two around anyways.

Nauls watched as MacReady headed off toward the shelter of the tunnel. It was now him and Childs, "We could survive down there...maybe."

"How do I know you're not It?" said Childs.

"I swear to God I'm me Childs…what about you?"

"Oh I know who and _what_ I am," Childs said and then looked to the tunnel entrance just as MacReady disappeared out of sight, "I think I'll take my chances in the tunnel, besides Mac's got the booze."

Nauls watched as Childs walked in MacReady's footsteps then the young man shrugged his shoulders and followed.


	2. Chapter 2: The Surviviors

Chapter 2: The Survivors

_"Trust no one"-Unknown_

** June 28****th****, 1245 Hours-**

The two Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters cruised over the frigid wasteland toward their destination of Ellsworth Station. The aircraft were specially modified to operate in the harsh Antarctic climate and were currently carrying 11 members of Ellsworth's crew along with three survivors from Outpost 31 who had just been rescued.

Professor Thomas Sterling, Ellsworth's second-in-command and a climatologist from the University of Chicago rode in the first helicopter and looked at the scraggly-looking survivor who sat flanked by two large men. The mustached and bearded man wore a Mexican-like sombrero looking hat and had been discovered holding an almost empty bottle of whiskey when he was found emerging from a hole in the ice.

Sterling regarded the man and his two fellow survivors with suspicion as they were the only three to be found alive among the blackened ruins of their station. Something had gone wrong at the camp that resulted in the deaths of their fellow crew members and the destruction of their camp and Sterling was determined to find out why. He turned his gaze away from the man and looked out the window to the second Blackhawk.

Marcus Hardy, the research team's engineer was seated in the second helicopter and sat across from two of the three survivors of Outpost 31. The two men had been found by the rescuers along with another survivor when the rescue team had flown in to investigate the reason behind the loss of communication with Outpost 31. The men had been seen to emerge from a hole that had been found to lead to a tunnel which lay beneath the destroyed station. Hardy was troubled by this fact: there was no tunnel that was in the plans for Outpost 31, so what was it doing there? It was possible that it may have been natural but something about that possibility didn't add up to him. As a matter of fact, nothing added up about the entire situation. The three men had been oddly quiet since they had been found and each of them had seemed to eye one another with suspicion. Perhaps the three of them had conspired to kill off their fellow crewmen and destroy the camp for reasons unknown and were now afraid that one would rat on the others. Whatever the truth was, something told Hardy that there was something seriously wrong about these three men.

The two helicopters continued on for another five minutes until they came into sight of Ellsworth.

**Ellsworth Station, 78 Degrees 19 Minutes 11 Seconds South: 168 Degrees 45 Minutes 37 Seconds East, 1250 Hours-**

"Hey boss, there coming in to land," said Bronx native Max Righetti to the tall man who stood behind him.

"Good," said 55 year old Steven Harrison, "I'm going out with the welcoming committee."

Righetti watched as the Station commander put on a thick blue jacket and walked out of the radio room. Once he was alone Righetti picked up his copy of _Rolling Stone _and went back to reading.

Howard Fleiss and Marvin Schultz stood out in the icy air and watched as the two Blackhawks landed. The two men then walked out toward the aircraft and guided them into the large dome structure that served as a shelter for the helicopters. The pilots shut off the aircrafts' rotors and followed the mechanics into the dome.

"Think they'll be any trouble?" asked Kevin Yozumi, the camp's meteorologist, to Harrison as the crew and passengers exited the helicopters along with the survivors.

"Maybe…but even if they're not they're going to be put in confinement until I find out what happened. Besides the FBI has a team heading out this way to take charge."

"So these are them," said Kelly Larkin who walked up to the two men, "They look pretty beat up."

Harrison looked at the geophysicist, who along with pilot Jen Fielder was one of the facilities' two females, "Doc Stone and Doc Donaldson are going to have a look at them."

"Think they're suffering from mental issues?"

"It's a possibility."

Sterling walked up to Harrison and smiled, "We're back!"

"How bad was it?" said Harrison.

Sterling's smile faded, "Bad. The place is demolished and these three came climbing out of a tunnel."

"A tunnel?" Harrison asked, surprised that there was a tunnel at the outpost.

"Yes, that's an odd thing to be there but that's where they hid out from the cold."

"What have they said?"

"Nothing much except that they're the only ones left…and that they're the reason the camp was destroyed."

"They are?" Harrison said and raised an eyebrow.

"That's what the fellow in the sombrero said," Sterling said motioning over at the scraggly man in the hat.

Harrison walked over to the three men, none of which looked familiar to him: "Gentlemen, welcome to Ellsworth Station, I'm Steven Harrison the base commander. We're going to have you checked out but first I need to know what happened there." _Garry's not here._

The three survivors exchanged glances and finally the taller of them spoke, "You might not like what you hear."

"I'll be the judge of that," said Harrison who turned his gaze at the sombrero wearing man, "I'm told you destroyed the camp."

"Like Childs said, you might not like what you hear."

"And you are…?"

"MacReady," answered the man.

Harrison had heard the name before from Doyle Killian, who along with Jen Fielder was one of the Station's two pilots; Killian had mentioned that MacReady was a moody drinker but also one of the best pilots around.

"Mr. Killian mentioned your name before."

"I take it Killian flew the other copter."

"Yes, see?" said Harrison who pointed out the pale, sandy-haired pilot who was busy conducting his post flight checks and inspections.

"He owes me fifty bucks from poker."

Harrison looked away from MacReady to the other survivors, "Mr. Childs and Mister…?"

"Uh Nauls, its Nauls sir," said the skittish young black man.

"Are you alright young man?"

"I…I think so."

The group was soon joined by a brown haired, bespectacled man in a large red overcoat. "Sorry I'm late but I had to stitch up Harper's thumb."

"What happened to Harper?" asked Harrison.

"He sliced his thumb on a sharp piece of metal while he was fiddling with one of the vehicles," said the man, "So these are them. How are you all feeling? I'm Doctor Everett Stone."

"Hi," said Nauls.

"You men look like you're suffering from exposure so I'm going to be taking you all to the infirmary to take a look at you all."

The three survivors looked at one another warily and then were led into the Base's main dome.

An hour later Harrison sat in his office with Prof. Sterling and Doctor Donaldson, the camp's psychologist, and discussed the three new arrivals;

"I've been in contact with McMurdo and they agree on keeping all three men isolated until the FBI team arrives," said Harrison who added, "Tim, once Everett is done with them I'd like you to interview them."

"Alright but I can tell you that they're probably suffering from shock over what happened and additionally they may be dangerous," said the psychiatrist.

"Think they're unbalanced?" asked Sterling.

"Well one of them did mention that they destroyed the camp so it's fair to assume that they're dangerous."

"Do you feel comfortable interviewing them?" asked Harrison.

Donaldson smiled, "I did some time as a prison psychiatrist so I think I can handle them."

Harrison smiled grimly, "Then it's settled: as soon as Everett is done with them you can talk to them."

After the two men had left his office Harrison sat down in his chair and contemplated the situation: He had three potentially dangerous men at his station, one of which admitted to destroying Outpost 31, who had raised the concern of the FBI who know had a team enroute to Antarctica. The team was due in 8 hours which he found unusual. How could they be ready so fast? He thought that perhaps it was because the FBI would have to provide personnel for some sort of trouble in Antarctica, if any trouble came up, and probably kept a team on short notice as part of a rotational basis. Still it seemed odd that a team was due in so quickly.

He looked over his shoulder and to a picture on the wall. In the picture was a mid-30s version of himself standing with a group of men in Army fatigues, standing next to him was Arnold Garry. Garry was the base commander at Outpost 31 and has been a friend of Harrison's for over 30 years. _If any of these men killed them then the FBI will be the least of their worries._

Brushing the thought aside, he looked out the thick window at the rest of the station.

Ellsworth was built to handle over 200 people year round but the newly commissioned station was only staffed by a total of 21 who were to maintain it until the beginning of Spring. Harrison and his men had been there for three months and had another three to go until the rest of the Station's personnel would arrive.

The Station was dominated by a large dome structure that stood out over 23 other buildings that housed various vehicles, the two helicopters, fuel storage, as well as berths for the full contingent of researchers and support personnel. Most of these were smaller, self-sustaining domes, and were arrayed around the central dome. The central dome housed the command center, infirmary, radio room, recreation center, and the mess hall among other things. Next to the Station was a landing field that could accommodate the resupply planes that the Air Force and USAP periodically sent in.

Harrison looked back to the picture on the wall and could only wonder what had gotten the best of Garry and his men.

**The Infirmary, 1430 Hours-**

Doctor Everett Stone finished up his examination of the three men and was able to discern that each was suffering from both exposure and weather related injuries as well as dehydration. While most people regarded dehydration as a condition brought on by exposure to heat it was in fact attainable at cold temperatures, all it took was a prolonged lack of water and salts.

The three men had some bruising and cuts but nothing out of the ordinary. They seemed to be in decent condition but of course their blood would still have to be analyzed. Stone had taken samples and had placed the vials of blood into a refrigerator and then glanced at Bryce Georgiou. The tall Greek-American was brought in to "overwatch" the medical procedures as a precaution in the event that the three new arrivals may try to attack the doctor. Georgiou stood 6'6 and weighed in at 290 pounds, most of which was muscle which he spent his free time adding to at the base's gym.

"Harrison wants them to see Doc Donaldson," Stone said to Georgiou, "Can you take them to see him?"

"No problem," answered Georgiou.

A moment later Georgiou along with two other camp workers, snow plow operator Terry Oswald and radio operator Jerry Hale, escorted the three men to the small office of Dr. Donaldson. There they would await their turn until the base psychiatrist interviewed them.

**Dr. Donaldson's Office-**

Dr. Timothy Donaldson couldn't believe what he was hearing: The skinny young man named Barry Nauls was nervously going on about something that came straight out of a 80s Sci-Fi/Horror film.

"So from what you're telling me Barry is that this Thing was able to assume the identity and personality of anyone it came in touch with?" said the doctor who expertly hid his skepticism.

"And dogs…it pretended to be this dog that the Norwegians were shooting at," said Nauls.

"Ah yes the Norwegian camp…Viking Camp is the nearest one to your own camp."

"Yeah it came from there…it killed everyone there except for these two guys who came after it."

"In a helicopter right?"

"Yeah. You believe me…don't you Doc?"

"Barry, I believe that you've been through a lot and I assure you that you and your friends are perfectly safe here and that everything will be cleared up."

"You don't believe me do you?"

Donaldson smiled at the young man, "I'd like for you to get some rest and not to worry about anything. You're safe here."

And so it continued for Dr. Donaldson-

"The damn Thing killed off everyone Doc; MacReady, Nauls, and I were the only ones that it didn't get," said Darren Childs.

"You said it could assume the shape of anything at will though. What if it assumed the identity of your friends?"

"That's why you got to isolate them, draw their blood, and burn it to find out."

"Ah yes, you did mention that that was how Mr. MacReady found out who was the creature."

Child sighed and then laughed, "You think I'm bullshitting you huh Doc."

"Now I didn't say that Darren but what I am hearing is a little far-fetched."

"We're all screwed you know…if it's one of us."

"How do I know you're not it?" Donaldson said. He couldn't believe the story that he was hearing.

"Test my blood. The other doctor already drew some so stick a cigarette in it and find out."

"I'm sure that won't be necessary Mr. Childs."

Childs smiled a humorless smile, "Your funeral Doc."

The interviews continued-

"Well that explains why you had to blow up the station R.J.," said Donaldson as he listened to MacReady finish his tale. _These guys are good!_

"So ready to cart me off to the asylum Doc?" asked MacReady in a nonchalant tone.

"What makes you thing I'd do a thing like that?"

"Cause you think I'm outta my mind."

"Why do you think that?"

"Cause if I was you and I heard someone saying this sort of shit I would too."

"If this _Thing _is alive then what would you do about it?"

"Nuke the fucking camp."

"Kind of overdoing things wouldn't it?"

MacReady leaned toward the doctor, "Look Doc, I honestly could give a shit about what you think but I am pretty fucking certain that one of those two are not who they seem to be and if they are what I think they are then we are all going to die."

Donaldson didn't let the man intimidate him. He had been around more than his fair share of violent men and he knew that to show them even the slightest bit of fear was to be opening oneself up to a full out assault. "R.J. I thought that you said that you blew the creature up so how could it have possibly killed and taken over your friends?"

"If it did then it did it before I blew it up and that'd mean it could live on in them."

"So what do we do?"

"Trust no one Doc; Take the blood samples that the other doctor took and burn them and if nothing happens then you can take me to see the nice young men in the clean white coats."

"And if something does happen?"

"Then we're all fucked."

**Harrison's Office-**

"Come in," said Harrison as he heard someone knock on the door. He had just been on the satellite phone with his superior at McMurdo Station and ended the call about five seconds before the knocking started.

Dr. Donaldson and Dr. Stone entered, it was Donaldson who spoke, "You're never going to believe what I heard today!"

Harrison saw the smile on the psychiatrist's face, "Surprise me."

"Ever hear of a Foile a Deux?"

"A what?"

"It's a French term for a psychiatric disorder," said the psychiatrist who sat down, "It means 'a madness shared by two' except in this case it is a Foile a Trois."

"Let me guess, 'a madness shared by three'."

"Yes."

"Well then you think that they are insane?"

"Well all three display the characteristics of the disorder."

"Before you go on about this Folie a Trois do you think that these men murdered their comrades and destroyed the camp?"

"Yes."

"That's pretty blunt Tim," said Everett Stone.

"I feel that these men suffered from cabin fever and depression and chose to lash out at their fellow crewmen. It may have been one of them at first and the other two could have joined in until it got out of hand and they decided to kill everyone and blow the station up," said Donaldson.

"Why would they do that?" asked Harrison who was getting intrigued.

"Enter the Folie a Deux: Each of these men told me identical stories about how a creature inside an infected sled dog was responsible for everything.

"A creature?" Harrison said with a raised eyebrow.

"Wait it gets better," said Stone.

"I'm sure it does."

Donaldson continued, "This creature had been chased by men from a Norwegian camp, Viking I think, and their fellow crewmembers had been killed by it. The two Norwegians were killed and the dog was put into a pen with other dogs. While it was there it killed and tried to assume the identity of the other dogs, the crew found out and used flamethrowers and a shotgun on it but it managed escape, and then it started to kill off and assume the identities of the remaining crew until only our three friends were left."

Stone interjected: "Apparently the guys at 31 were in violation of the Antarctic Treaty, I mean they had flamethrowers and all that."

"Good point Everett, so where did this creature come from?" asked Harrison.

"From the space ship."

"Oh there's a spaceship?"

Donaldson smiled at Harrison's expression of bewilderment, "A crashed UFO was found by the Norwegians who unearthed an occupant that killed off their crew and took on the form of a sled dog which then showed up at Outpost 31."

"This all sounds like some sort of science-fiction horror movie huh?" said Stone.

"It sounds like these men are either messing with us or they are truly crazy."

"Hence the Foile a Trois," said Donaldson, "They are suffering from a shared delusion that was brought on by their relative isolation. It may have started with one but then it became emotionally contagious and spread to the other two. The other two then became part of the whole psychotic episode and came to believe what the principal agent was telling them. Unfortunately I can't say at the moment which one of the three is the principal agent for this hysteria. If that is the case then this is a subcategory of a Foile a Trois called Foile Simultanee which is where all parties involved are morbidly predisposed to the delusional psychosis. In other words these men are living in a psychotic delusion that is completely real to them.

"So they're crazy then?" asked Donaldson.

"Well the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders would call them 'mentally troubled'."

"Mentally troubled my ass Tim, keep them under guard until the FBI team arrives."

"When are they due in?" asked Everett Stone.

"Around 2200," said Harrison.

"That soon?"

"Strange huh?"

"Well it is a bit odd; I mean all of this is happening so fast."

"Before you two came in I was on the sat phone with the boss at McMurdo. Director Campbell mentioned that there was an FBI team that was doing some sort of cross training in New Zealand with the Kiwi's version of the Feds and that they're got the green light to come check out our situation."

"Well that explains it," said Donaldson, "It's a shame though because I'd really like to have more time with these three."

"Well they won't be able to fly out tonight," said Harrison, "Yozumi said that the conditions are going to get bad right around the time these guys arrive."

"Good then I can interview these men some more."

"What else did Campbell have to say," asked Stone.

Director John W. Campbell was the overall head of all of USAP operations and oversaw all American activities on the continent from McMurdo.

"He mentioned that there was something up with the Norwegians," Harrison paused to let that sink in, "From what he gathered from Professor Olaf Nielson over at Troll Base is that they lost contact with Viking yesterday."

"That's where our survivors mentioned the Norwegians coming from," said Donaldson.

"If that's the case then there's more to this then we realized," said Stone.

"Think these people would have been capable of going to Viking and doing something to the Norwegians before they turned on their own people?" asked Harrison.

Donaldson leaned back in his chair and thought it out: It was possible for Outpost 31's men to get to Viking. The two camps were a short flight away and it wasn't uncommon for personnel from different camps to periodically pay one another a visit. It could be that the three survivors could have flown to Viking, murdered the Norwegians (if in fact the Norwegians had met the same fate as Outpost 31's men), and flown back where they killed off their own men before blowing up their camp. It sounded a little too elaborate to the psychiatrist but the scenario was plausible. He smiled as he realized that he had the perfect subject for a book on abnormal psychology. He had just finished a paper detailing multiple personality disorders that had garnered a lot of attention in his field and now he was presented with an excellent opportunity to publish either a true crime novel or possibly a work of fiction based off fact.

Donaldson looked at Harrison and simply said, "Yes."

**Hut 13-**

Hut 13 served as a storage building that housed numerous spare parts for the various vehicles and equipment at the camp. It was a short 50 meter walk from the main dome (if one could count anything as a short walk in subzero temperatures) and was currently housing one of the three survivors. The other two survivors were inside huts 14 and 15. The occupant of this hut stared out of human-like eyes but the intelligence that took in its surroundings was anything but human.

It had been locked inside a supply cage by the crew of Ellsworth Station as a security precaution and now it was getting restless. It needed to get out of the cage and spread out among the station's personnel.

Before the creature had been killed at Outpost 31 it had managed to buy itself a little insurance by killing and impersonation one of the three remaining crewmen. It knew that it could easily wait for rescue and be brought to another station and then on to the mainland if it had assumed and stayed in a human shape. It had waited, dormant, in the ice for millennia and now that it was free it planned to spread off of the frozen continent. A benefit of taking on the form or its victims was the fact that it took in their personalities as well as their memories and intelligence. It knew that it was only a matter of time before it could get to civilization. However it was imperative for it to feed and that meant that it needed to consume and assimilate the characteristics of the crew. It could not go long without feeding. If it did then its metabolism would gradually slow down and it would go into hibernation. If that happened then there was a chance that it would fall into a slumber that would potentially last several thousand years. It needed to get out and feed and then take on the form of a survivor and make it to the mainland. Its present form would suffice but as a precaution it needed to spread to another form.

The sound of the hut's door opening caught its attention. It looked through human eyes at the man that was approaching it. The man held a container of heated food and showed it to him.

"Hey man, hope you're hungry," said the man who smiled.

"I'm starving!" answered the Thing.

"It sucks that you're stuck in here but orders is orders," said the man who set the container down and motioned for him to move away from the door, "You're going to have to move to the wall OK?"

"OK." The Thing said as it moved to the back of the cage.

The man unlocked the door and opened it. He cautiously picked up the container and walked in, "Egan made some chicken parmesan, hope you like it."

"I'm sure I will," said the Thing as it opened its mouth.

**Hut 14-**

Neil Alvarez, the station's storeroom keeper and resident supply guy, watched as the youngest crew member walked toward him.

"Did he give you any trouble Sparky?"

The young man grinned, "Nope, how about you? No one try to take advantage of a senior citizen?"

The 53 year old laughed at the young man's remark, "No, did he try to take advantage of you little boy?"

21 year old Shane "Sparky" Reynolds laughed, "I'd have kicked his ass if he tried anything old man."

The two laughed and waited for their companion to finish serving his man. The three men were told to stay together as they served the three men but the two younger ones had disregarded their directions and ran ahead of Alvarez as soon as they had walked outside. Alvarez had just shaken his head at the actions of the two younger men.

"Maybe that guy grabbed him," said Alavarez with a smile, "You two should've stuck with the plan and stayed with me."

"Then this would take longer Oldtimer!"

"You youngsters think nothing bad can happen."

"Those three dudes are suffering from exposure or something, I doubt that they'd be able to run 10 feet let alone overpower someone."

The two headed toward Hut 13 to see what was taking their companion so long.

**Hut 13-**

The man looked up just in time to see something coming at him with lightning quick speed. He didn't even have enough time to scream as fleshy tendrils shot into his mouth and coursed down his throat. Two more tendrils whipped themselves around his throat and head and dragged him toward his attacker. He thrashed as the fleshy cords whipped around his body and began to tighten down like boa constrictors. He flailed and grabbed for them but it was no use; the tendrils in his throat worked with blinding speed as they wound their way down his esophagus toward his chest cavity. Another tendril made its way up past his sinuses and on to his brain where they immediately tapped into his nervous system and various points in his brain. He began to lose consciousness and his struggles abated. The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was the mutated figure of the man reaching toward him.

The Thing held the now limp man in its grasp as it plunged itself into his body and continued it's work taking over its victim.

**Outside-**

"Hey guys could you give me a hand with this?" said Marvin Schultz to Alvarez and Sparky.

The two men looked to the mechanic who was trying to close the bay doors of one of the vehicle domes.

"What's wrong?" asked Sparky.

"It went off the track," said the mechanic, "I just brought in one of the tractors and then the door decided to be a pain in the ass and get stuck."

"We were actually going to go to Hut 13," said Alvarez.

"Hut 13 can wait, gimmie a hand first."

Alvarez shrugged and decided that an extra couple of minutes wouldn't cause any harm.

**Hut 13-**

The extra couple of minutes cause much harm to the Thing's victim. Those extra minutes allowed it to continue to absorb its victim and complete the replication process. As its tendrils wove their way into the now still victim it was able to create a facsimile of the man who had brought it the food. In a few moments it was done and was now clad in the heavy clothing of the man.

The two Things looked at one another and smiled. The newly assimilated Thing walked out of the cage and shut the door…without locking it. It then walked out of the hut.

**Hut 15-**

As soon as the kid had walked out of the hut the cage's occupant had sprung into action. While the kid was giving him his food he had began to talk and managed to keep the kid's attention long enough for the young man to forget that he had set the cage's key on top of the container. He couldn't believe his luck; apparently the kid was completely absent minded and hadn't realized that he had placed the key on the top of the container after he had finished unlocking the door. As luck would have it this type of cage door would lock automatically when it was closed which negated the need to keep the key inside the lock. All it took was a casual conversation to get the kid's mind off track and now the cage's occupant smiled in satisfaction as he unlocked the cage door. He pushed the door open and stepped out.

"That kid would never cut it as a prison guard," said the man as he put his hat on and walked away while taking a bite of the apple that came with his meal.

**Outside-**

"About time you finished serving him dude, what were you doing playing cards with him or something?" asked Sparky.

The Thing smiled, "Nothing like that…but he's a real interesting fellow!"

"C'mon you guys let's go inside, "I'm freezing!" said Alvarez to his companions.

The three men and one creature headed off toward the main dome, not noticing the figure that darted into Hut 14.


	3. Chapter 3: Escaped!

Chapter 3: Escaped!

_"Trust dies but mistrust blossoms"-Sophocles_

**The Mess Hall, 1730 Hours-**

"Those guys get fed?" asked Ellsworth's cook Sam Egan as the three men walked into the mess hall.

"Yeah my guy ate his all up," answered Terry 'Oz' Oswald.

"Did you help him eat it up Terry?" asked Alvarez to the snowplow operator, "You were in there for a while."

"Well he did look like he could use some food so I decided to make sure he could actually eat something."

"Well you fellas better get some food yourselves," said the cook who went back to his Sudoku puzzle.

"Sounds good," said Alvarez who headed for the beginning of the food line.

"Actually I'm gonna swing by Hale's room first," said Oz.

"Suit yourself."

**The Living Quarters-Jerry Hale's Room, 1735 Hours-**

Due to the station being run on a skeleton crew, the members of Ellsworth Station were able to utilize living areas in the main complex as opposed to the numerous billet trailers that were separate from the main complex. Because of their small numbers each crewmember was able to have their own room. One of the downsides to taking a job in Antarctica was the fact that you could never really get away from people. You were surrounded by your fellow workers during duty hours and you would see them in the Rec Center, gym, and mess hall in your off hours. For the men and women of Ellsworth Station, their only escape was their small rooms.

35 year old radio operator Jerry Hale was lying in his bunk watching the original _Halloween _on TV. Ellsworth, like all US Antarctic installations, received its broadcasts via satellite from the Armed Forces Network. In the John Carpenter film a young Jamie Lee Curtis was stuck inside her home on Halloween night while her psychotic, mask-wearing brother Michael was trying to kill her. Hale had seen the movie several times, but being a horror movie fan he could watch it over and over again. However his attention was grabbed by a knock at the door.

"Its open!" shouted Hale.

The door opened and Terry Oswald stepped in, "Hey."

"Hey yourself, what's up?"

"Just came by to see what you were up too."

"Just watching Jamie Lee Curtis screaming in terror," answered Hale.

"Cool," Oswald said as he closed the door and walked toward Hale's bed. He stopped and looked at the scene on the TV.

"You ate yet?"

"That's why I came over here," said Oswald who smiled serenely at Hale, "I'm hungry!"

**Brady Robinson's Room-**

"Hey Hale! Shut the hell up!" shouted mechanic Brady Robinson who had had his attention torn from his online college English course by the sound of Hale yelling about something. Robinson had his headphones on and could still hear Hale yelling over the sound of Pantera singing _Cowboys from Hell. _"That fool is too damn loud!"

A heavy thud sounded on the wall and caused Brady's desk to shake.

"What the hell is he doing?" Robinson said aloud to himself.

Robinson glanced at the clock on his computer screen and saw that it was nearly dinner time. As soon as he realized this his stomach growled. He saved his work and got up to head to the mess hall.

He walked by Hale's room and banged on the door.

"Yeah?" came Hale's reply from behind the closed door.

"You done yelling in there Hale?"

"I'm done," came the reply, "I was just yelling like this person in a horror film."

_What the fuck ever dude, you're fucking weird, _"OK dude whatever floats your boat," said Brady who then headed to dinner.

**Hut 14, 1740 Hours-**

Darren Childs sat in his cage and ate his dinner. He was royally pissed off by being locked in but at the same time he understood why the shrink had had him placed here. If he had been a psychiatrist and someone told him about a shape-shifting alien he would have had the person locked away too.

A cold gust of air blew into the hut which chilled him to the bone. He looked down the hut's short hall and saw someone approaching him.

The person stopped in front of his cage and smiled at him.

"Oh great, its you?" Childs said sarcastically.

"Who else?" asked MacReady who raised up his hand.

Childs saw that MacReady had a key in his hand. "I was going to ask you how you got out but now I guess I should ask you how you got the key."

"The kid who brought me my food was dumb enough to forget it."

"So…why are you here?"

MacReady looked around the various items in the storage hut and walked away and out of Childs' line of sight. A moment later he returned with one hand behind his back. With his other hand he unlocked the cage door, "I'm here to see what you really are."

The door swung open and Childs watched as MacReady pulled a hammer from behind his back.

**The Radio Room, 1740 Hours-**

"Hey loser," said Jerry Hale to Max Righetti as he stepped into the room.

"Hey dipshit," answered Righetti who was busy reading a magazine, "Relieving me early?"

"Yeah got nuthin better to do," said Hale who sat down next to Righetti.

Righetti stood up and said, "Good I'm outta here then…oh by the way we're supposed to have some visitors flying in around 2200-2230ish."

"Why so late? I mean its odd to come in that late."

"Its about those three guys from 31."

"Ah, gotcha," said Hale, "Well I'll be sure to welcome them then."

"Good. Now I can go eat."

Hale watched as Righetti walked out of the room and then said to himself, "Well this could complicate things."

**Hut 14, 1741 Hours-**

Childs dove to the floor to avoid the hammer blow from MacReady. "What the hell!"

MacReady swung at him again and managed to glace a blow off of Childs' right triceps. Childs threw his arms around him and pushed him onto the floor. MacReady smacked the hammer into Childs' side and heard the big man wince in pain. He forced the big man off of him and stood.

Child raised himself up and saw the hammer coming for him again. He ducked and threw a punch at MacReady. The blow hit the pilot in his right shoulder which caused him to drop the hammer.

The two men fell to the ground and grappled with one another. Childs punched MacReady in the mouth and drew blood then he put his hands around MacReady's neck and began to squeeze. MacReady returned the favor and began to choke Childs. The two rolled to the left and MacReady now found himself next to the hammer. He reached out, grabbed it, and hit Childs upside the head. The blow drew blood, some of which fell to the floor, and caused the big man to lose his grip.

Childs cradled his wounded head in his hands and crawled to the wall. He looked up and saw MacReady standing over him. The pilot pulled a stick flare from his coat pocket. He activated the flare and instantly the hut was bathed in a reddish glow.

MacReady made a show of holding the hammer up in front of Childs' face. He heated the metal hammer head up and then brought it down to the small drops of Child's blood on that had fallen to the floor.

Both men held their breath as the burning hot hammer head touched the spilled blood. Nothing happened.

"I guess you're not the Thing," said MacReady.

"No shit Sherlock!" said Childs, "But what about you?"

MacReady spat his blood onto the floor and handed Childs the still burning flare and the hammer. "Check it."

Childs took the offered items, heated up the hammer, and touched the red hot metal to the blood. Nothing.

"Guess you're you," said Childs.

"But what about Nauls?"

"Guess we better go and find out," said Childs.

"After you," said MacReady.

**The Hangar, 1802 Hours-**

The Thing that was in the form of the man known as Barry Nauls walked through the freezing wind and into the large hangar that housed the Station's two helicopters. He pushed open the door and walked in.

Howard Fleiss was in the middle of replacing a cracked fuel line when all of a sudden he felt an icy chill hit him in the back. He smiled, _finally Doyle's back with my coffee_! Though the mechanic. 10 minutes earlier Doyle Killian had went off to the mess hall to fill up Howard's thermos with coffee and now that he was back he could finally recharge himself with the caffeine.

Howard turned around and instead of seeing Doyle Killian he was face to face with one of the men that had been rescued from Outpost 31.

"Hey, what the-how the hell did you get out?" Howard said in surprise as the young black man smiled and then opened his mouth.

**The Mess Hall, 1802 Hours-**

Doyle Killian put the cap on the now filled thermos and headed outside to the hangar. However he made a detour to the table where Harrison sat eating his dinner with Professor Sterling.

"Heya boss, hows MacReady? I saw him but I didn't get to talk to him."

Harrison wiped his mouth with a napkin and said, "Well he said you owe him fifty bucks from poker but other than that he looks suspicious."

"Figures he'd remember the money…think he did it?" asked the pilot who now wondered if MacReady was dangerous. Word of the three new arrivals and the state of Outpost 31 had spread quickly throughout the camp and Doyle was concerned that his fellow pilot was now suspected of killing his fellow crew members.

"That's something that I don't think I can answer until I get all of the facts."

Sterling added, "The team is due in about four hours."

"Doyle, do you think it'd be trouble to accommodate another helicopter?" asked Harrison, "I got word from McMurdo that a team will be arriving by helicopter instead of plane."

"Yes, but it's a little unusual," said the pilot who was surprised by the fact the helicopter would be coming in at night, "And a little dangerous."

"True," said Sterling, "But Youzumi said that the weather isn't going to be too bad tonight."

"Still it is odd," said Harrison.

"Well let me get over to the hangar and give Fleiss his coffee before he goes into withdrawls," said Killian as he left the two men to themselves.

"It certainly is odd Steve," said Sterling, "Considering Donaldson's theory."

"Well the feds can deal with these men…if I don't decide to stop being objective and handle it myself."

Sterling looked at the Station chief and felt a twinge of apprehension; the fact that Harrison was good friends with Outpost 31's commander had not gone unnoticed by the scientist.

**The Hangar, 1803 Hours-**

After discovering that Nauls was missing, MacReady and Childs hurriedly looked over the other huts and buildings as quickly as they could without being seen by anyone who may have been outside. Now they came to the Station's aircraft hangar.

"Think he might be in here?" asked Childs.

"It's a possibility," answered MacReady.

"I've been meaning to ask you, you got any idea on what to do if he's in here?"

"The same thing I did to you."

Childs laughed coldly, "My head still hurts like hell you prick."

"I love you too," said MacReady who then opened the door and went inside.

What Childs and MacReady saw before them would scare the piss out of anyone but to the two of them this was something that they had quickly grown used to.

20 feet away was Nauls or rather was something that had at one time looked like Nauls. Next to the Nauls-Thing was a fleshy looking figure that was lying halfway inside one of the helicopters. The two bodies were connected to one another by a number of tendrils that pulsed with alien life.

MacReady looked away from the ghastly scene and said, "You know, seeing this doesn't really bother me anymore."

"Me neither," said Childs, "So now what? We don't have any flamethrowers."

"There's fuel and I got a few more flares."

"OK let's do this."

As the two men made to move toward a drum of fuel, the Nauls-Thing turned and looked at them and emitted a low and deep howling noise.

A split second after the Nauls-Thing made its noise, Killian stepped into the hangar. The first thing he noticed was MacReady and Childs standing inside the building. The second thing he noticed was something straight out of a horror movie. Something that looked like one of the three rescued men was attached to a prone figure, connected by some sort of fleshy looking appendages.

Killian was froze in his tracks as he watched the spectacle before him, "Holy shit," he said softly and then turned and bolted from the hangar.

"Where the hell is he going?" asked MacReady.

"Hopefully to get reinforcements," said Childs who went to a nearby oil drum and busted the top off with the hammer. He kicked it over and its flammable contents spread out toward the Thing, "Get ready with that flare!"

MacReady activated another flare and waited for the fuel to reach the Thing. Childs righted the fuel drum and moved it away from the spilled fuel. He knew that there was a chance that the burning the fuel could cause an explosion but right now he really didn't care, he just wanted this Thing dead.

The Thing screamed in rage and as the fuel spilled onto its still human looking feet.

"Sorry Nauls," said MacReady as he tossed the burning flare onto the fuel and watched as it spread and quickly engulfed the Thing and its victim.

**The Mess Hall, 1807 Hours-**

"Help!" screamed Killian as he ran into the mess hall, "Help! There something in the hangar!"

"What the hell?" said Harrison as he stood and watched as Killian kept screaming for help.

"Those guys got out and something's in the hangar!"

"Alvarez!" Harrison yelled to the supply specialist, "Go to the command center and grab some firearms!"

Neil Alvarez immediately stood up and ran out of the mess hall toward the Station's command center. Although weapons were prohibited by the Antarctic Treaty and USAP's policies there was a clause that stated that the leadership of each facility was allowed to keep a small number of firearms under lock and key in the event that one of the crewmembers may become violent. Harrison possessed one of the keys to the weapons locker while Alvarez maintained control of the other.

"Let's go stop them," said Sterling who was on his feet and motioning for the others in the room to follow.

"Egan, announce an emergency through the PA system," said Harrison who threw on his jacket and left.

Sam Egan reached for the PA system device that was in the mess hall and followed his boss's order.

**The Radio Room, 1809 Hours-**

The Hale-Thing finished talking to Sam Egan who had just come on the PA system to announce an emergency. The Hale-Thing called him back and announced that he was going to contact McMurdo about the emergency. Once it had finished talking to Egan it didn't make the call, it instead just sat there and bided its time.

**The Hangar, 1811 Hours-**

Harrison, Sterling, Killian, and 4 others entered the hangar and were greeted by a fire that was in the process of being put out by MacReady and Childs. They were spraying fire retardant on something that was now charred and was virtually unrecognizable.

"What the hell is going on here!" shouted the station commander, "Georgiou, you and the others stop them from leaving!"

"There…there was something there!" said Killian in a nervous sounding voice, "I don't know what it was but it didn't look normal!"

Harrison looked at the pilot who was shaking, "You OK?"

"N-no," stammered the pilot who pointed to the smoldering remains, "I think that was Fleiss!"

Harrison followed the man's finger and saw something that was lying halfway inside one of the helicopter, "You bastards! You killed one of my men!"

"Steve be calm," suggested Sterling.

Harrison gathered himself and then turned to see Neil Alvarez arrive with Sparky and Jen Fielder. They had two 12 gauge Mossberg shotguns and Harrison's own Springfield M1911 .45 pistol. Fielder handed Harrison his pistol and then he spoke coldly, "Get these men into the command center and keep them under guard."

"Don't you want to see what Nauls and the mechanic look like?" asked MacReady.

"You sick sonofabitch!" roared Georgiou to MacReady.

"Look!" yelled Childs, "Look at them and you'll know what's going on here!"

Sterling slowly walked passed the two men who were now being man-handled by Georgiou, Sparky, and Marvin Schultz. He wrinkled his nose at the smell of burnt flesh and waved the smoke away from the burned bodies to get a better look at what the two men were talking about.

Sterling took one look at the scene and turned pale, "Harrison, we need Doc Stone!"

**The Recreation Center, 1930 Hours-**

"So what do you guys think?" asked Willie Harper to the others who had gathered in the room.

"I think those two fuckers need to pay!" said Brady Robinson who was drinking a Coors Light to calm his nerves.

One of the few luxuries Antarctic personnel have is the ability to have alcohol, granted it was not allowed to be consumed during duty hours. Robinson was officially off duty and off duty drinking was something to be looked forward to be all, particularly the blue-collar workers who made up the bulk of the personnel.

"Something isn't adding up," said Kelly Larkin, "Doyle said he saw something that the two men were burning."

"Yeah poor Fleiss," said a sarcastic Robinson.

"Yeah poor guy," said Terry Oswald.

"The feds are due in around 2200," said Kevin Youzumi.

"So until then I imagine Harrison will be interrogating those two whack-jobs," added Max Righetti.

"There's more to this than there appears," said Larkin as she stood up and walked off.

"Where you off too?" asked Harper who's injured thumb was still aching.

"To find out more," she answered and then left.

**The Command Center, 1935 Hours-**

Steven Harrison sat and glared at the two rescued men who were seated at a table and kept under guard by Bryce Georgiou, Neil Alvarez, and Sparky Reynolds. The men were being interviewed by Doctor Donaldson.

"So gentlemen, by burning Mr. Fleiss and your friend Mr. Nauls you were able to kill the creature?"

"That's what I've been saying for the past hour Doc," said Childs.

"Why was this creature…taking over Mr. Fleiss?"

MacReady sounded off: "Because that's what it does. This Thing takes the form of its victims and spreads like some kind of disease. That's what it did at our camp and what it did to the Norwegians."

Donaldson was doing his best not to smile. This story was so far-fetched and crazy that it was surely a one-of-a-kind story. This fact would make his book all the better. He needed to get on the Sat phone and speak with his editor friend at UCLA to discuss the details of his book. _I can make something out of these two!_

"Darren, R.J. I want you to try to put yourself in my shoes and imagine how what you're telling me would sound," said the psychiatrist.

The two men looked at each other and laughed.

"What's so funny?" asked Harrison in an icy tone.

"Cause you guys haven't even noticed the obvious," said MacReady.

"And what R.J. is the obvious?" asked Donaldson.

"Look at the bodies."

**The Infirmary, 1935 Hours-**

Kelly passed the infirmary on her way to the command center when she was stopped by Dr. Everett Stone. The kindly-looking African American doctor had poked his head out of the infirmary and had a concerned look on his face.

"Kelly can you do me a huge favor and tell Harrison that I need to see him," said the doctor.

"Of course, I was just headed over there."

"Thank you."

As soon as Kelly had left, Stone glanced at the tables where the two bodies were and then he looked to professors Hardy and Howell. The two men had helped to bring the bodies to the infirmary and had stayed for the autopsy.

"We need to notify McMurdo about this," Stone said to the others.

"Once Harrison sees this he will," said Howell.

Hardy just looked at the burned bodies and fought to keep the bile from coming up.

**The Conference Room, 1937 Hours-**

Harrison listened to what Larkin was whispering into his ear then as soon as she was done he stood up and said, "Tim, you've got this, I'm going to go and see what Doc Stone has to say."

"Alright," answered the psychiatrist.

Before Harrison left the room he was stopped by MacReady who addressed him, "Don't say we didn't tell you."

**The Infirmary, 1955 Hours-**

"So you see gentlemen and lady," Doc Stone said to the others, "These bodies have the characteristics of both men as well as what appears to be a dog."

Harrison looked at what indeed seemed to be a canine face that was sticking out of the side of one of the bodies. The rest of the scene was no less bizarre: there were rope-like appendages that sprung out from one of the bodies as well as something that looked like flower, albeit a fleshy looking flower.

Stone continued: "As you can also see there are these tentacle-like appendages that appear in what was once the survivor that was rescued as well as some other structures that are entirely alien to a normal human body."

_Alien: _that word caught Kelly's attention. Was it possible that this was something that was extraterrestrial? She finally decided to speak, "Everett…when you said 'alien' what exactly did you mean?"

The kindly doctor looked her in the eyes and said, "Those two men appear to have told us the truth."

**Harrison's Office, 2000 Hours-**

"OK," said Harrison who sat down and paused for a moment before continuing, "We need to keep this as quite as possible. No telling McMurdo or Director Campbell about this. We need to squelch any rumors about this and keep those two under guard."

"Then we wait for the FBI team?" ventured Sterling. Sterling had just seen the remains in the infirmary before coming into the office.

"Yes."

"What about Donaldson? He's still interviewing those two."

"Let him continue to do so."

"We could tell Hale not to radio this up," said Howell.

"Good idea…does he have any idea what's going on?" asked Harrison.

"He probably knows about Fleiss being killed but I'm pretty sure that we're the only ones who know about the _other _aspect of this."

"Well lets tally up who would know or suspect this _other _aspect."

Hardy pulled out a notepad and pen, "OK shoot."

Kelly spoke, "Well there's the five of us plus Doc Stone, , Killian, Georgiou, Reynolds, Alvarez, and Doc Donaldson. And the four last men only know what MacReady and Childs are saying, they haven't seen what Doc Stone found."

"That's a grand total of 11 of us," said Hardy as he tallied the names. That leaves 9 that either think it was foul play and/or have just heard MacReady and Childs' stories."

_The total number should be 21, _thought Harrison grimly, "So it's just seven of us who know for sure then?"

"It would appear so… but I have a bad feeling that this secret isn't going to stay secret very long."

"That's the problem with a small number of people in a confined area," added Howell.

"Yes, you cut yourself shaving and everybody knows about it five minutes later," said Harrison, "I'm going to go and talk to them."

**The Conference Room, 2015 Hours-**

MacReady watched as Harrison and Sterling walked in and sat down at the table, "I take it you saw what we were talking about."

Harrison glared and then said, "Bryce, you and the others can leave, Donaldson too."

"But I wasn't finished talking to them," said Donaldson.

"I just need a few minutes with these two."

Donaldson shrugged, "They're all yours," and then left.

"I take it you've seen the bodies," said Childs with a smug look on his face.

The question was preceded by a brief but noticeable silence in the room. Finally it was Sterling who spoke: "You do understand why we're skeptical about what you've told us?"

MacReady smiled a humorless smile and said, "I'd be skeptical too if I was in your shoes."

"Alright," said Sterling who added, "Out of curiosity, how did you two get out?"

"One of your people was forgetful enough to leave the key behind," MacReady said, "So I got Childs out."

Harrison slammed his fist into the table startling the others, "Dammit! I should've guessed; Reynolds is always forgetting things!"

"If it's any help to his defense I distracted him by talking."

"He has no excuse," Harrison calmed himself and continued, "Dr. Stone has made a preliminary examination of the bodies."

The station chief's words hung in the air for a moment until Childs spoke, "So what do you think?"

Harrison looked to Sterling and then back to Childs, "It would seem that there may be some truth about what you have said."

"_Some _truth?" MacReady said with a raised eyebrow, "As opposed to what?"

"We don't have all of the facts yet gentlemen but we-" Sterling said but was cut off by Childs.

"You mean the fact that you have two severely mutated bodies on slabs isn't enough for you? Are you fucking kidding us?"

"Now gentlemen please-"

"Look, you obviously don't realize what you're dealing with here," said Childs, "We told you but apparently it went in one ear and out the other. That Thing isn't from this planet and if even one part of it managed to infect someone else then we're all completely screwed!"

A knock at the door caught everyone's attention. Harrison looked over his shoulder and said, "We're busy!"

The voice of Dr. Stone came through the closed door: "I think you better come and take a look at this."

**The Infirmary, 2028 Hours-**

What am I looking at Doc?" asked Harrison as he peered into the microscope.

"What you're looking at is a normal blood sample, my blood sample," Stone said as he raised a bandaged finger in the air, "I cut myself to show you what normal blood cells looks like."

Harrison squinted and saw a few round red blood cells that bore a slight resemblance to a doughnut, "OK I see."

"Now look at this slide that was taken from Mr. Nauls," Stone said as he switched slides.

Harrison noticed the similarities, "They look the same."

"Now look at this sample from Fleiss."

Harrison peered into the microscope and saw that this new sample was different from the other two. There were normal looking cells in this sample and then there were _other _cells. These cells appeared to have something clinging to them. A smaller diamond-shaped cell was adhered to these other cells. Some of them appeared to be _entering _the normal blood cells.

Harrison pulled his head away from the microscope and motioned to Sterling, "Tom take a look at this."

The climatologist obliged and looked into the cell, "Blood cells b-but that's not right…it looks like their being infected."

"They are being infected Tom," said Stone, "This organism is able to enter into a host and mate with it on a cellular level. It then takes on the characteristics of the infected cell and is then able to mimic it perfectly."

"Mimic?" Harrison said in confusion.

"The organism is able to take on the characteristics of its host and is able to change the host into a copy of itself…on a cellular level. See these cells from Mr. Nauls may appear to be human but they are in fact completely possessed by the outside organism. This organism hijacks the host and replaces the host with another copy of itself that retains the original form of the host but is in all actuality an extension of the original invading organism. Aside from these samples there are several different human blood types found in the bodies as well as canine blood."

Sterling looked at Stone and saw that the doctor had a serious look on his face that stood in stark contrast to his normally cherubic appearance. "This is real?"

"I'm afraid so."

It was Harrison's turn to speak, "Taking into consideration what you've just told me Everett and with what MacReady and Childs have told us…this Thing or whatever the hell it is," Harrison said pointing to the mutated bodies, "More than likely came from outer space, killed off Viking and Outpost 31's personnel, and killed Fleiss…Is it dead?"

Sterling was secretly dreading the answer.

Everett Stone said flatly, "As a door nail. I haven't seen any cellular activity in either body. Those cell samples haven't changed since I took them."

"So it is dead," said Sterling.

"Maybe death is different in the context of this…_thing."_

"What are you saying?" asked Harrison.

"What I'm saying is that it may appear to be dead, perhaps it is dormant…also if it spread to Fleiss then who's to say that it didn't spread to anyone else?"

Sterling shot a quick glance to Harrison, "Have MacReady and Childs brought in."

Harrison stood up and exited the room but not before he turned and said, "Everett, get ready to draw blood from them."

"I already did when they got here."

"Do it again…with us watching."

Stone and Sterling watched as the station commander walked off and then they began to prep for Childs and MacReady.

**The Radio Room, 2045 Hours-**

The Hale-Thing finished relaying the message from the inbound aircraft to Harrison. The helicopter had an ETA of 2200 hours and had just lifted off from McMurdo and would be bringing in a team of FBI agents. The Hale-Thing now found itself in a bind: It had heard about the incident in the hangar and it now realized that the odds were good that its incarnation in the man known as Nauls was more than likely terminated. It did have an ace in the hole however; it still had its incarnation in the snow plow operator.

**The Infirmary, 2100 Hours-**

MacReady sat in a chair with his hands tied to the arm rests. To his right was Childs who too was bound. A group of the Station's personnel stood around them including the Station chief, the doctor, and the big muscle-bound man who was charged with watching them.

"I see you've finally decided to get with program," MacReady said humorlessly.

Childs smiled and said, "So what's making you to test us?"

"Let's just say that we'd like to see if you are who you say you are?" said Harrison who nodded to Dr. Stone to begin.

Dr. Stone took a freshly unwrapped needle and pricked MacReady's skin. A moment later he pulled the plunger back and withdrew the sample. Once the sample was taken he placed it onto a side, dropped the needle into and orange plastic container marked **Bio-hazard**, and repeated the process with Childs.

Next the doctor placed the slides under the microscope and viewed them.

"See anything Everett?" asked Sterling.

"Nothing out of the ordinary," said Stone, "Of course so did that one sample."

"Well I guess that makes us normal then Doc," said MacReady.

"What about Fleiss' sample?" asked Sterling, "It was different than the one taken from their friend."

"Whoa hey," said Childs defensively, "That guy wasn't our friend."

"Yeah he just looked like him," said MacReady, "Look stick a cigarette in it to check."

"Yeah, I told the shrink that that was how we were able to tell who was human and who wasn't," added Childs.

"Gentlemen maybe that's overdoing it," said Sterling.

"Look pal," said MacReady with a tinge of annoyance in his voice, "You have us tied up here and you have two bodies on slabs, what have you got to lose?"

Dr. Stone looked to Harrison for his opinion. Harrison, who was sitting on a bench, nodded his confirmation to the doctor.

"Anyone got a light?" asked Stone.

"Here," said Alvarez who withdrew his Zippo lighter and tossed it to the doctor.

Dr. Stone emptied the blood samples into separate petri dishes and then flicked open the US Navy Emblem engraved Zippo and lit the end of a scalpel. Once it was red hot he dipped it into Child's blood. Nothing happened. He then repeated the process with MacReady's. Again nothing.

"Well what exactly did that prove?" asked Harrison.

"Nothing," answered Sterling.

"This is total bullshit," said Georgiou.

"Hey Doc," said MacReady, "Why don't you burn some of the victim's blood?"

Dr. Stone shrugged, withdrew a sample from Nauls's body, heated the scalpel, and touched it to the sample.

"HOLY SHIT!" screamed Dr. Stone as the blood sample jumped up from the petri dish. He stumbled backward and dropped the dish to the floor. The other men instinctively jumped and stared at the spilled sample.

"What the fuck was that?" asked Sparky Reynolds who's voice came out like a scared 12 year old's.

"Oh my God," exclaimed Alvarez.

Harrison collected himself, picked up Alvarez's fallen Zippo, and relit the spilled blood. Instantly it reacted by jumping up.

"Fuck!" said Harrison as he pulled his hand back, "What the hell?"

Dr. Stone had gotten to his feet and grabbed a bottle of bleach from a cabinet. He poured some of the bleach on the sample. "Let me have the Zippo again Steve."

Harrison handed over the lighter and watched as the doctor touched the flame to the mix of bleach and blood: Nothing happened. "Just as I thought, bleach kills it like it would regular blood."

"Well that's a good thing," said Georgiou, "Now all we need is a few 50 gallon drums of bleach."

"Hey guys," said Childs.

The men turned to look at him and Macready.

"What?" asked Harrison.

"Now that you've see this how's about untying us?"

**The Living Quarters, 2145 Hours-**

"Come in," said Kevin Youzumi as he heard the knock at the door. The 30 year old Japanese-American meteorologist was getting ready to help greet the arriving helicopter and was donning his heavy jacket as his visitor walked in.

"You going out there too Kevin?" asked Terry Oswald.

"Yeah figured I may as well; Shits getting weird huh?"

"Oh you've no idea," said Oz as he pushed the door closed and locked it.

**The Radio Room, 2146 Hours-**

"Roger that Foxtrot 11 you are clear to land over," said the Hale-Thing to the crew of the arriving helicopter.

"Roger Ellsworth," came the reply, "Tango Mike, Foxtrot 11 out."

The Hale-Thing keyed the PA System and spoke, "All personnel, be advised that we will be having visitors coming in time now."

**The Infirmary, 2146 Hours-**

"They're a little early," said Sterling.

Harrison looked to Georgiou," Bryce, you and Reynolds stay here with Doc and keep an eye on these two. Tom, Neil come with me."

"Hey Harrison," said MacReady.

"What is it?"

"Maybe leaving Reynolds with us isn't the smartest thing to do."

Harrison glared at the smirking pilot and then looked to Reynolds with piercing eyes, "You're lucky I have more important things to do right now," he said as he left the room.

Reynolds cringed at the anger in Harrison's vocie.

"What's that all about Sparky?" asked Dr. Stone who noticed the look on the young man's face.

"Sparky huh?" laughed Childs, "Like a puppy."

Sparky Reynolds turned crimson, "I have no idea."

"Sparky when you brought me my dinner you forgot the key to the cage!" laughed MacReady.

"Sonofabitch," moaned the kid.

**The Living Quarters Hallway, 2147 Hours-**

As Marvin Schultz walked out of his room he heard screams coming from Kevin Youzumi's room.

"Hey Kevin what's going on!"

Kevin kept screaming.

The mechanic reacted to the screams by trying to open the door. He cursed as it wouldn't turn so he backed up and kicked the door open. He looked inside and saw something straight out of a nightmare.

Kevin Youzumi was struggling against the wall with what looked like a bunch of bloody snakes. The snakes were attached to the torso of Terry Oswald. The snake-like appendages wrapped themselves around the struggling meteorologist whose struggles began to wane.

Schultz now watched as Oswald faced him, groaned in a low and vibrating manner, and pointed its right arm at him. The man's arm shot it out toward him.

Schultz dove to the ground, narrowly missing being grabbed by the monstrosity, got up, and ran off screaming for help.


	4. Chapter 4: The Calvary

Chapter 4: The Calvary

_"Action cures fear, inaction creates terror,"-Douglas Horton_

**The Landing Field, 2150 Hours-**

The biting cold that slammed into Harrison and his men was exacerbated by the rotors of the CH-53D Sea Stallion as it came in for its landing. The bulky helicopter, which bore the markings of the United States Navy, set down on the frozen ground and slowly began to taxi toward the hangar.

Harrison watched as Doyle Killian guided the aircraft toward the hangar by using a pair of flashlights topped by yellow plastic cones. The pilot had recovered from his shock from earlier and was now directing the helicopter into the hangar. The hangar had been made to accommodate the helicopter and special care had been taken to clean up any damage caused by the fire that had been set by MacReady and Childs.

"Looks like the Calvary has arrived," said Sterling, "I wonder how well this is going to go over…I mean once we tell them what's happening."

Harrison grimaced, "Not well I imagine."

Once the helicopter entered the hangar, Jen Fielder pressed a red button which brought the hangar's sliding door down.

The engine of the Sea Stallion quieted and its ramp opened, disgorging its passengers.

Gerald Anderson was the first to step out of the helicopter. The 47 year old team leader looked around the hangar at the gathered crewmembers and quickly identified the Station's chief.

"Steven Harrison I presume?" said Anderson.

"Yes," answered Harrison to the salt and pepper-haired man.

Anderson extended his hand, "Gerald Anderson, FBI."

"Glad you could make it," Harrison replied with a firm handshake.

"Thank you for accommodating my team."

"Thank you for coming."

Anderson smiled then got down to business, "Is there a place that we can speak in private?"

"Yes of course, we can talk in my office," said Harrison who was going to have to inform the FBI agent of the startling turn of events that had occurred in the past few hours.

As the two men talked the six other members of the FBI team began to unload their assorted gear, all without the assistance of Ellsworth's crewmembers who had had their offers of help respectfully declined.

**The Mess Hall, 2153 Hours-**

"Marvin calm down!" pleaded Sam Egan as he tried to make sense of what the distraught mechanic was saying. A few minutes earlier the man had burst into the mess hall in hysterics, much like Doyle Killian had a few hours earlier.

Marvin Schultz was shaking and his words came out as babbles. Nothing he was saying was making any sense whatsoever.

"Maybe we should slap him," suggested Max Righetti who, aside from Egan and Schultz, was the only person in the mess hall. The others were either greeting the Feds, guarding the two survivors of Outpost 31, or were manning the radio.

"That's a little extreme Max," said Sam who was interrupted by Marvin who was going on about something that had killed Kevin.

Max rolled his eyes, "Marv, be calm buddy."

Marvin grabbed Max by the collar and pulled him close, "Terry killed Kevin!"

Max blinked, "The hell did you say?"

"I said Terry killed Kevin."

Sam looked to the glass door of the mess hall and smiled in relief, "That's a bunch of bullshit Marvin, there's Kevin right now!"

**The Conference Room, 2155 Hours-**

As soon as the helicopter had come in for its landing, MacReady and Childs had been taken back to the conference room by the hulking Georgiou and the boyish Sparky. They now sat waiting for the Feds to show up and interrogate them; both their guards had been quiet ever since they had witnessed the reaction of the infected blood.

"You feel like explaining all this again?" asked Childs.

"I'm getting pretty bored of it," answered MacReady.

"I'm getting pretty bored of the two of you," said Georgiou who unadmittedly was feeling a little uneasy after seeing the blood's reaction.

"Something tells me you won't be bored for much longer."

Bryce Georgiou was about to say something when Kelly Larkin opened the door and walked in.

"The Feds are here," Larkin said.

"Good, now they can babysit these two," said Georgiou who then looked Larkin up and down, _The things that I'd do to her!_

Larkin was followed by two muscular men in matching dark blue clothing. One was black and the other white. Childs guessed them to be in their early thirties.

"I'm Agent Ethan Hudson," said the black agent, "And this is Agent Stewart Kaczmirsky"

The white agent smiled humorlessly and then said to Larkin, Georgiou, and Reynolds, "We'll take it from here."

"Thank God," said Georgiou, "I'm tired of babysitting."

"Guess you'll be getting back to your steroids and HGH then," said MacReady with a smile.

Childs let loose a laugh.

"Fuck you," said the muscular man as he walked out.

"Some people are so touchy," said MacReady.

The Feds weren't humored; "We'd like to ask you some questions."

"I'm sure you would."

"I hope you're open-minded," added Childs.

**Harrison's Office, 2155 Hours-**

Agent Anderson sat down and asked the station chief and the senior scientist his questions about the survivors of Outpost 31. What he was told wasn't exactly what he had expected to hear, given the fact that his mission brief was a little more _unusual _than a shared delusion. He was told that the two men were involved in the death of one of Ellsworth's crewmembers. He listened intently as the two men explained the theory of the Foile a Deux that Dr. Donaldson had presented. Although the two men seemed steady there was something in their eyes and mannerisms that suggested that there was more to this story than meets the eye. _What aren't they telling me?_

"So Dr. Donaldson's Foile a Deux theory seems plausible to you then?" asked Anderson.

"Well it certainly makes sense," said Sterling.

Harrison was about to speak when Sam Egan's voice came in over the PA system.

"I need Dr. Stone and Dr. Donaldson…like now!" said a nervous-sounding Egan.

"Now what?" asked Sterling.

Harrison stood up, "I'm sorry Agent Anderson but I have to check my men."

"Not at all," said the agent who stood up, "I'll join you."

**The Radio Room, 2159 Hours-**

The Hale-Thing smiled as it heard Sam Egan's voice come over the PA system. It heard footsteps and turned around. Standing in the doorway was Kevin Youzumi.

"Hello," said the Hale-Thing.

"Hello," replied the Youzumi-Thing.

Both Things were able to sense the presence of the other as well as the other manifestation that was currently hiding somewhere inside the main complex.

As soon as Kevin Youzumi had been taken over and replicated, the Oswald-Thing had shed its human form and had entered the circulation system of the main complex via the air ducts where it was now waiting for another victim to assimilate.

The Youzumi-Thing now jumped upon the Hale-Thing and began to pummel its face with its fists. The Hale-Thing didn't resist as its brethren attacked it, it just fell to the floor and took the beating.

The Youzumi-Thing stood up, grabbed the chair, and smashed the radio equipment. It brought the chair down again and again upon the radio and the room's computer. The damaged equipment smoked and short-circuited from multiple impacts.

Satisfied that the radios were out of commission, the Yozumi-Thing went outside to disable the Station's wireless capabilities.

**The Mess Hall, 2200 Hours-**

"Would someone care to explain to me just what is going on?" asked Harrison as he, Anderson, and Sterling walked in.

"Schultz is flipping out!" said Max Righetti.

Marvin Schultz sat in a corner with his knees drawn to his chest and screamed at the assembled, "It killed Kevin!"

"What killed Kevin," asked Dr. Donaldson who had arrived moments before Harrison.

"Some…some…some monster!"

"A monster?" asked Donaldson, _This just keeps getting better!_

_ A monster? _Thought Harrison with a sick feeling in his stomach, _My God._

Sam Egan spoke up, "Kevin isn't dead, I saw him a few minutes ago."

"Did you talk with him?" asked Harrison who was dreading the possibility that whatever had happened to Nauls and Fleiss was happening again.

"No, I just saw him through the door."

"Mr. Harrison, it may be a good idea to have everyone brought to one place," suggested Anderson.

"Tim, see if you can, calm Schultz down," said Harrison who turned to Egan, "Sam, get on the PA and have everyone assemble in the Rec Room."

"No problem," answered Egan.

**The Conference Room, 2205 Hours-**

"Guess you should take us to the mess hall," said MacReady to the two Feds.

"Good I'm getting hungry," added Childs with a smile.

"Kaz, see what's going on," said Agent Hudson to Kaczmirsky.

"Got it," answered Agent Kaczmirsky who stepped outside the room. He shut the door behind him and called his superior on his small handheld radio. The radio was an encrypted device that functioned in concert with a small ear phone through a wireless signal.

It took three sentences to complete the exchange between Anderson and Kaczmisrky. The transmission ended and the agent stepped back inside the room.

"Hudson, we're keeping them here for now."

"Alright then," said Hudson as he turned his attention back to Childs and MacReady, "Now if we could get back to what's happened since you arrived here."

"If you really want to know you'd go to the infirmary," replied Childs.

"We already have people there."

**The Infirmary, 2205 Hours- **

Doctors Jonathan Mayerling and Alex Morgan looked at the remains on the two tables and listened to the incredible story that Dr. Everett Stone was telling them. The two men had introduced themselves as FBI agents but this was not true. They were neither FBI nor agents of any kind. Mayerling was a virologist who worked for the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases and Morgan worked for NASA as a biologist with an emphasis on exobiology. Both men had been seconded to the team as their skills had been found to be handy with the present situation at Ellsworth.

"How many people know about this Dr. Stone?" asked Morgan.

"Almost half of the station," replied the tired-looking doctor, "The rest know that something is going on in relation to Outpost 31 but they don't know," he gestured to the table, "About this."

Stone and Hardy were in the infirmary with the two FBI men. Shortly before the two agents had arrived, Professor Howell had left to join the others in the Rec room.

"After looking at the specimens as well as the blood samples I'd have to say that your prognosis seems to have merit," said Mayerling.

"Some merit?" said Hardy with a raised eyebrow, "Everett, maybe you should show them the samples."

Stone nodded to Hardy and then thought about his prognosis: They were dealing with an extraterrestrial entity that acted like a virus-an extremely contagious virus that had no cure. It was able to replicate itself in a remarkably short period of time and take on the characteristics and intelligence of its victims.

Stone was skeptical about the belief that alien intelligences had visited Earth. He did accept the idea that there was life elsewhere in the universe but he didn't buy into claims of extraterrestrial visitations-that was until the events of the past few hours.

"Well perhaps you should watch this," said Stone, who proceeded to heat up a scalpel and burn a blood sample.

Mayerling and Morgan jumped back a little as the blood reacted violently to the heated instrument.

After a few quiet seconds Mayerling said grimly, "I'll call for Anderson.

**Outside, 2210 Hours-**

The Youzumi-Thing had just finished disabling the station's wireless uplink capabilities and now moved its way back toward the main complex, fighting to move against the howling winds. It reached the main complex and entered. It smiled knowing that the station was now completely deaf and mute. It was now isolated from any outside help as there was no way that anyone was going to brave tonight's weather.

The Youzumi-Thing now stepped into a storage room to bide its time until it would make its next move.

It didn't have to wait very long. The sound of approaching footsteps caught its attention. It opened the storage room door a crack and peered out. Coming down the hall was the station's geologist. The tall man came closer to the room and just as he passed by the Youzumi-Thing made its move.

**The Recreation Room, 2225 Hours-**

Harrison watched as Doyle Killian and the Feds pilot, an agent named Jeff Callum walked into the room. The two were followed a moment later by Professor Howell. He then took a mental note of who was where.

Aside from MacReady and Childs who were with Agents Hudson and Kaczmirsky in the conference room, Doctor Stone and Professor Hardy were in the infirmary with Mayerling and Morgan, and Hale who was manning the radio, there were still two people missing: Kevin Yozumi and Terry Oswald.

Harrison looked around at the assembled and took notice of the two missing men, _where the hell are they?_

"Gordon, you didn't see anyone else on your way over here did you?"

"No, I think I was the last one in," said Gordon Howell.

_Youzumi and Oswald, _thought Harrison who was aware that both of the men may have fallen victim to whatever had been brought back from Outpost 31.

As if she could read his mind, Kelly Larkin spoke to him in a quiet voice, "There's more to this than you're letting on, isn't there?"

Harrison looked at the petite geophysicist and noticed that there was a detectable trace of nervousness on her small face. She was an attractive woman with shoulder length brown hair and wide green eyes. He knew that many of the men in the station harbored interests in her and he could see why.

Harrison answered her cryptically, "Just be sure to keep an eye on everyone."

Sitting on a sofa in front of the room's 62 inch flat screen, Brady Robinson couldn't help but feel annoyed. The young mechanic absent-mindedly fingered the stud in his left ear lobe as he attempted to make sense of what was going on. Like over half of the station's crewmen he only knew the basics: Three survivors had been rescued from Outpost 31 and were brought to the station, two of them had set fire to Howard Fleiss and the third survivor, Schultz had had a fit of hysteria, and the FEDS had arrived. However, something just wasn't adding up.

"So does this make any sense to you?" asked Willie Harper.

"None whatsoever," replied Robinson.

"I got a bad feeling about this," said Jen Fielder.

"That's blunt Jen," said Harper.

The pilot just looked at him and frowned.

Anderson looked around at the gathering and noticed the general disposition of those assembled. There was a palpable sense of apprehension in the room. His thoughts were then interrupted by a call from Dr. Morgan.

"This is Anderson."

"Could you meet us in the infirmary?" came Morgan's voice, "Its something pertinent to the situation."

"I'll be right over," Anderson looked to Harrison, "I'll be back, please keep everyone here."

"I will," answered Harrison as he watched Anderson and another agent leave the room.

**The Infirmary, 2245 Hours-**

"So that's it in a nutshell," said Morgan to Anderson as Dr. Stone had finished up repeating his findings for Anderson and Agent O'Rourke's benefit.

"Do you both concur?" Anderson asked Mayerling and Morgan.

Both men nodded.

"If you'd like I could burn another blood sample for your benefit," interjected Stone.

"Did either of you see him do this?" asked Declan O'Rourke.

"Yes."

Anderson let all the information sink in: The situation was more serious than he had originally anticipated. He needed to inform his superiors at Langley about his team's findings.

"Thinking of something sir?" asked O'Rourke.

"I'm going to have to inform higher," Anderson said and then looked at Stone and Hardy, "We'll need you to sign a statement swearing you to secrecy…along with everyone else who knows about this."

Stone looked at the four men for a moment and then said, "You're not FBI."

Morgan and Mayerling exchanged glances and O'Rourke raised an eyebrow to Anderson.

"Gentlemen," said Anderson, "Please be kind enough to accompany my men to the Rec room. O'Rourke let's go to the radio room."

**The Conference Room, 2250 Hours-**

MacReady let out a loud yawn that in turn caused Childs to yawn. Since the events at Outpost 31 neither man had gotten much in the way of sleep and it was beginning to show.

"You look as bad as I feel," said Childs to MacReady.

"I need some caffeine," said MacReady who turned his attention to the two agents, "So you heard what we have to say...think we can get some coffee?"

"That was a very interesting story gentleman," said Agent Hudson.

"I'm glad you found it entertaining," said Childs.

"That was probably the most original story I've ever heard of," said Agent Kaczmirsky.

MacReady was about to say something smart when a creaking noise caught his attention. He looked up to the left corner of the room and realized that the sound was coming from an air duct.

"Hear that too huh?" said Childs in a low voice.

"Yeah."

The two agents listened and heard what MacReady had noticed. It sounded like something was moving around up above them.

"What's that?" asked Kaczmirsky.

"It's probably our _interesting story," _said Childs.

Up above the four men the creature moved through the narrow duct. It had discarded the form of Terry Oswald and was now searching for any targets of opportunity. It heard the sounds of voices coming from the room below. Two of these voices were familiar to the Thing, _MacReady and Childs! _The Thing seethed in anger as it remembered the two men who had defeated its main incarnation at Outpost 31 and had later burned its Nauls incarnation. The Thing wanted to kill both men and the two men with them but it knew that this was not the time. It would wait and avoid arousing suspicion, for now. It moved on.

The four men listened as the sounds emanating from the air duct died away.

"So want to take us to join everybody else?" asked Childs.

Hudson gave Childs and annoyed look, "We'll take you there as soon as we get the go ahead."

Kaczmirsky couldn't help but feel a little spooked by the noise from the air ducts, "I'll radio Anderson and see if he wants us to move em'."

**The Radio Room, 2253 Hours-**

"Roger, go ahead and move them," said Anderson to Agent Kaczmirsky. He and O'Rourke then turned a corner and came to the radio room.

"What the hell?" said O'Rourke as he saw a prone figure lying on the floor. He unholstered his Heckler and Koch USP 9MM and entered the room.

Anderson withdrew his own HK and watched as O'Rourke cleared the room and the knelt beside the prone figure.

"Someone trashed the radios!" Anderson said angrily.

"You OK?" asked O'Rourke to the man on the floor. He rolled him onto his back and nudged him.

The injured man looked up and spoke, "Youzumi…that bastard jumped me and smashed the radios!"

Anderson looked at the man who had a black eye and a mean gash on his forehead and swore under his breath. He then lifted his radio to his mouth and called for his men to come and get the injured man.

**The Recreation Room, 2303 Hours-**

"So Youzumi destroyed the radios?" asked Sterling.

"Not just that," said Harrison who had just returned from the radio room with the agents and an injured Hale, "He downed our wireless… We're deaf and mute."

"While you were over there they brought in those two," Sterling said as he pointed to MacReady and Childs.

"Anderson can we talk?" said Harrison.

"Of course," said the agent who moved off to a corner of the room.

"Did Dr. Stone tell you anything?"

As if by magic Stone appeared at their side, "He knows Steve, I told them."

Harrison sighed, "Look Agent Anderson, there are things going on here that are way over our heads."

"That's why I'm here and it's why I had you bring everyone here."

"Got a plan?"

Anderson did indeed have a plan, as a matter of fact he had two, of course he wasn't going to share the main plan with Harrison but he was content to tell him about keeping everyone under watch until the weather abated.

"We're going to sit here and keep an eye on everyone. I'm going to have some of my men go to the hangar and use the radios in the helicopter to radio to higher for further instructions."

"That's it?"

"That's it" Anderson lied. He wasn't about to tell Harrison that the main plan involved eradicating the _entire _station.


	5. Chapter 5: Paranoia

Chapter 5: Paranoia

_"Even the bravest men are frightened by sudden terrors,"-Publius Tacitus_

**The Recreation Room, 2330 Hours-**

As the frigid katabatic winds swept across the ice fields outside, the members of Ellsworth Station and their guests were sitting inside the Rec room and eying each other with both concern and nervousness.

Harrison could feel the almost tangible tension in the room. His people were looking around with uncertainty as the FBI agents had entered the room with him and the injured Hale. The news of the destruction of the radios and wireless had caused consternation among the crew.

"Hale's a little dinged up," said Dr. Stone who had moved to Harrison's side, "But he'll be OK."

"He told the Feds that Youzumi had attacked him."

Stone sensed that his boss was leading onto something, "What are you thinking?"

"What if…what if it spread? What if it's in someone other than Youzumi?"

"I could draw a blood sample from Hale and test it."

The two men were interrupted by Mayerling.

The skinny, bespectacled man approached them and quietly said, "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. I think that perhaps we should isolate Mister Hale."

"And then what?" asked Harrison.

"Test him like Dr. Stone tested the blood samples."

"Look Agent, uh."

"Mayerling."

"Agent Mayerling, you do understand what we are up against right?"

"I believe so."

"If it's true that this, whatever the hell it is, is alive then what's to say that it won't _react _to having its blood drawn?"

Mayerling thought about what the station commander said; He had been told by Agents Hudson and Kaczmirsky that the two Outpost 31 survivors had tested the samples and that an infected crewmember had reacted violently.

"We would need to conduct the testing under controlled circumstances."

On the other end of the room Doctor Alex Morgan quietly discussed the situation with Anderson.

"I was thinking Gerald, that if this is as serious as we believe…that we may need to pursue our options."

"I've entertained that thought Alex," said Anderson, "We can use the helicopter's comms system to contact higher and let them know…but so far they want us to investigate and if possible obtain a specimen."

"If this creature is as virulent as I believe then obtaining a specimen would not be in anyone's best interest…I mean this creature has already killed off two stations worth of people and is here doing the same thing. What if it made it off the continent?"

Anderson had done some serious thinking on this subject since he had heard Doctor Stone's theory. If this organism was allowed to leave Antarctica it could conceivably spread to any life form it came in contact with. Then it would only be a matter of time before it could spread to the _entire _population of the planet.

"Alex, if this thing did make it out of here…how long do you think it'd be before it could…" Anderson couldn't finish the sentence because the sheer scope of the possible ramifications seemed almost too hard to believe."

"I've been thinking about that since I saw the remains," he said as he withdrew an iPad from his coat. He fidgeted with it and then showed Anderson his calculations.

"Is this accurate?" said Anderson with disbelief in his voice.

"Yes."

An uneasy silence developed between the two and finally Anderson spoke, "We're going to take Callum and go to the hangar, I'll let Langley know."

MacReady and Childs sat on a couch and looked around at the others. The station's personnel were spread across the room but none were near the two of them. As a matter of fact it seemed as if they were being avoided.

"Notice how none of them seem to want to be around us?" asked Childs.

"I don't blame them, if I was them then I wouldn't want to be around us either," said MacReady.

"Feeling left out?" asked Agent Hudson who, along with Agent Kaczmirsky were still watching over the two men.

"Not with you around," replied MacReady.

"Here comes your boss," said Childs who nodded in the direction of Anderson who was coming toward them with a stocky-looking agent who carried a backpack and another man.

"Callum, Morgan, and I are going to the hangar," said Anderson to the two agents, "O'Rourke is in charge until I get back."

"Gotcha."

"Hey secret agent man," said MacReady.

"What," said Anderson in an annoyed tone of voice.

"You need to start testing everyone's blood."

Anderson appraised the scruffy-looking pilot and realized that he and his fellow survivor were the only ones who had survived the events of the past couple of days, he felt that both could provide valuable insight into their situation.

"Perhaps we will," answered Anderson who then walked off with his pilot in tow.

"This is such bullshit, such major bullshit," said Brady Robinson to his fellow crewmen, "Hey Sparky what do you think of this?"

The youngest crewmember looked at the second-youngest crewmember with eyes that were filled with nervousness, "I uh…uh…nevermind."

"Spit it out man."

Sparky Reynolds didn't want to spit it out. He was scared; as a matter of fact he had never felt this scared before in his entire life, he had seen the blood sample's reaction and been scared witless by it. Something was killing people at the station and he was terrified that he'd be a victim. He was horrified of becoming whatever it was that poor Howard Fleiss had almost become.

"I don't…I don't know," answered Sparky.

"Well fuck does anyone have any ideas about all of this?" said Robinson in an irritated tone.

"Brady," said Willie Harper, "Maybe you shouldn't try to pry answers out of people who don't want to talk."

"Geez all I did was ask him a question," said Robinson, who looked back to Sparky, "You can answer a question can't you?"

"Leave it alone Brady," said Sparky.

"Leave it alone Brady," said Brady Robinson in a mocking tone.

"Hey Brady," said Jen Fielder who had been watching the exchange go on.

"Yeah?"

"Why don't you shut the fuck up and leave him be?"

Robinson was taken aback by the pilot. He stood up and walked off to a pool table where Max Righetti was busy knocking in balls by himself.

Sparky looked to the pilot. Fielder didn't take shit off of no one. She had spent several years in both the active duty Army as well as the Reserves where she served as a UH-60 pilot. Both she and Killian were Army pilots and had been hired to put their piloting skills to use in Antarctica.

"Thanks Jen."

"No problem kiddo."

**The Hangar, 2340 Hours-**

Anderson put down the mike after the transmission to Langley had been completed. He had used a highly sophisticated and Top-Secret communications device that had been kept inside the borrowed helicopter to contact his superiors and to inform them of the ongoing events at Ellsworth Station. Their orders he had been given by higher, based on his and Morgan's recommendations. The deputy director was especially interested in Dr. Morgan's insight.

Morgan was a biologist by trade but he specialized in a more fringe type of biology: exobiology. Exobiology concerned the hypothetical biology of _extraterrestrial beings. _This pseudo-science of biology wasn't widely known outside of specialized circles but NASA had more than a few on tap that it consulted for projects concerning what types of life forms may exist on other worlds. As of this point, only Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus were considered candidates for harboring extraterrestrial life. NASA wasn't officially considering extraterrestrial visitors to Earth, but Morgan had heard rumors of it in his time with the Administration.

"So now all we have to do is test everyone, determine if they're infected, and then we will have to wait until morning to leave…weather permitting," said Morgan.

"Yes, of course we will all have to be debriefed once we get to DG," said Anderson.

"And if this option proves inadequate?" asked Morgan who was unsure about the option that the deputy director had given them.

"Then our team will leave and the Air Force can do its bit."

"I don't like that."

"Its not for us to like Alex," said Anderson, "It would be too difficult to keep a lid on this with so many witnesses."

"Leaving them all here for the Air Force is borderline inhuman."

"It doesn't matter Alex, higher has made their decision and they've no doubt briefed the National Security Council on it…besides, the planes are now enroute.

Alex Morgan bit his lip and thought about the deputy director's option. There had always been a contingency plan on the table to eradicate the three stations, Viking, Outpost 31, and Ellsworth, but he didn't believe that the order would actually be given, especially considering that Ellsworth had its crew. He thought that the first option, one that included a plane load of Army Black Ops personnel backed up by a larger plane load of Marine Force Recon, would be the option of the day. Under this option the Black OPS-Delta Force, would seize the station and its personnel, while the Marines kept a cordon around the station, and herd them onto waiting aircraft for a flight to Diego Garcia for debriefing while the camp was bombed with Fuel-Air munitions. However the order of the day was to evacuate the team and leave Ellsworth's crew and the organism to their fate.

"I don't like this, not at all."

"We don't get paid to like anything Alex," said Anderson, "We get paid to do."

**The Recreation Room, 2342 Hours-**

The Hale-Thing sensed that it was not the only incarnation of itself in the room. It scanned the faces in the room and was soon able to see its fellow being. The other incarnation caught its glance and gave a slight nod. There were still two other incarnations of itself elsewhere in the Station. Soon, it knew, it would have to make its next move.

It looked around at the station's crew and took pleasure in the evident unease and underlying paranoia that was present.

**The Hangar, 2349 Hours-**

Anderson and his two men were just about to leave the hangar for the main complex when a blast of cold air swirled into the building. They looked in the direction of the cold and saw that a young Asian man was approaching.

"Its Youzumi," said Anderson to his men.

"Stop right there!" yelled Callum who pulled out his pistol and pointed it at the man.

"Whoa! Hey guys don't shoot!" said the Youzumi-Thing.

"You need to go to the Rec Center!" said Anderson.

Dr. Morgan tugged on Anderson's jacket, "I don't think he's who he says he is."

Anderson took a hard look at Youzumi who stood looking at them with a genuinely frightened expression on his face. "Mr. Hale says that you attacked him."

"He's not who he says he is!" shouted Youzumi, "He tried to kill me! I caught him trashing the radio and computer and then he attacked me…I had to hit him with the chair!"

"If that's the case," said Callum, "Then why haven't you gone to the Rec Room like everyone else?"

"Cause _something_ chased me away!" answered the Youzumi-Thing in a frightened voice, "Something else showed up! I'm not going back in there with that thing in there!"

"Mr. Youzumi," said Morgan, "We have the situation under control. We would like to have you return with us so we can keep everyone together."

The Youzumi-Thing was beginning to get impatient with these men. They clearly were not convinced by its story. However, it had anticipated this. It knew it had to spread out and so after it had taken care of the geologist it had decided to go in search of other victims. It had spied these three men leaving the main complex and so it had followed them into the freezing night.

Now it had decided that it must make the next move. It smiled at the three men and then turned and fled.

"After him!" yelled Anderson to Callum and Morgan.

"Callum slung off his pack, opened it, and removed a Heckler and Koch MP5-N submachine gun. He loaded a 30-round magazine and charged out after the fleeing man with Anderson and Morgan in tow.

Running in the snow and high winds was extremely difficult and tiring and it impeded both the Youzumi-Thing and the three agents.

Visibility was poor in the weather but all were able to make out the bright lights of the main complex.

The Youzumi-Thing ran to the nearest door, threw it open, and ran inside. Moments later the agents came in and continued their pursuit.

**The Command Center, 2356 Hours-**

The Youzumi-Thing ran into Command Center and stopped. It was effectively trapped and knew that its pursuers would be there shortly.

Almost immediately the three agents ran into the room.

"Stay right where you are!" said Anderson who, along with Callum, had his weapon aimed at the man.

"Mr. Youzumi, please don't do anything rash," said Dr. Morgan.

The Youzumi-Thing didn't listen. Instead it faced the men and emitted an unearthly howl.

The noise caused the men to flinch and made their eardrums hurt. Then they watched in horror as the man's jaw opened to a humanly impossible extreme. Something emerged from the open maw.

"What the fuck?" said Callum.

"My God," said Morgan.

Anderson just stared in awe as the man's features seemed to melt into a fleshy mask of semi-human features.

The Thing went to its knees and continued its metamorphosis. Its arms elongated by an additional 18 inches while its back arched up until it reached a point. Its head and chest separated with its head going up toward the ceiling while a bloody canine-like face emerged from its chest.

"Fuck me!" said Callum who opened fire on the monstrosity.

**The Recreation Room, 2357 Hours-**

"What the hell is that?" exclaimed Willie Harper who shot up as the noise of gunfire echoed from the hall.

The agents all pulled out their pistols and unsafed them.

"Everyone stay quiet!" roared O'Rourke who spoke into his radio, "Anderson, we've got gunfire! What's going on? Over."

MacReady shot a glance to Childs, "I think we better go help."

"Lets go," responded Childs.

"Don't even try!" threatened Kaczmirsky.

"This is getting seriously fucked up!" said Max Righetti as he unconsciously clutched his pool cue as if it wear a bat.

"You're telling me," said Bryce Georgiou. The muscular man had been doing his best to contain his anxiety over what was going on at the station. He wasn't the kind to admit being scared but he had been frightened when he saw the reaction of the infected blood, "Shit's going down."

Righetti looked at Georgiou and detected a small trace of fear in the man's voice, _if he's scared then fuck me!_

**The Command Center, 2357 Hours-**

Anderson ignored O'Rourke and instead emptied his magazine into the monstrosity.

The bullets of both weapons tore into the Thing causing it to howl in pain. It reared up and fell back into a computer terminal where it continued to receive more lead to its body.

Doctor Morgan saw the creature stumble into a computer and howl in pain. He looked around and saw a half-full coffee pot. He reached for it and threw the pot at the surge protector that was under the desk where the creature was.

The coffee hit the surge protector and immediately caused a reaction. Tongues of electricity shot into the computer and the Thing and caused its body to jerk violently and involuntarily.

The Thing could feel the electricity course through its body. It screamed in rage as the volts fried its nervous system and its brain. It felt itself losing its struggle and its consciousness. It fell to its knees and lay still.

The three agents stood looking at the fallen beast for a moment before Callum fired a burst into its body. Nothing happened.

"Think it's dead?" asked Callum.

"I don't think we should take any chances," said Morgan.

Anderson had an idea; "Callum get O'Rourke over here along with Hudson, Harrison and the two survivors. Have them bring something flammable."

"Yes sir."

**The Recreation Room, 0001 Hours June 29****th****-**

As the new day came so did word that Harrison was needed in the command center, along with Agents O'Rourke, Hudson, and MacReady and Childs. The gunfire had ceased and now they were being asked to go to Anderson with something flammable.

"I can grab some alcohol from one of the science rooms," said Harrison as he walked out of the Rec Room with the agents and MacReady and Childs.

"Is it on the way?" asked Hudson.

"Yes, it's up ahead."

The men entered the Lab and Harrison immediately began to go through the cabinets. He pulled out a large container of rubbing alcohol. He also grabbed a rag and lit the tip of the rag with a Bunsen burner.

Moments later they entered the Command Center and we greeted by the smell of ozone and by an inhuman figure that lay still on the floor.

Harrison looked closely and said, "Is that…is that Youzumi."

"Maybe the question should be _was that Youzumi_," said MacReady.

Harrison looked at the pilot, "Will burning it stop it?"

"As far as I know, but maybe you should ask a scientist."

Dr. Morgan spoke up, "The parts of the two bodies that were burnt seem to have effectively killed the organism…however the same can't be said of the unburned portions."

"You'll need to burn the whole body," said Childs.

"Alex," said Anderson, "Let's get this _thing _somewhere where we can burn it completely as well as the other remains."

"We'll need more people to handle all of this," said Hudson.

"We'll round up some of the others who are aware of _this _and then we'll move it to the nearest storage hut."

**Hut 1, 0035 Hours-**

MacReady and Childs stood inside the large storage hut and watched as the remains were doused with fuel and set alight. The bodies went up in a whoosh and instantly the heat given off by the flames was felt by the assembled. Several of the people in the building, it was larger than most of the huts but it was still referred to as a hut, were holding onto fire extinguishers.

Childs looked around and noticed that all but two of the agents were present as well as around half of the station's personnel.

"Maybe now these guys might want to test everyone's blood," said Childs.

"I was thinking the same thing," answered MacReady.

The men watched the as the bodies burned for several more minutes before Harrison gave the order for the fire to be put out.

**The Recreation Room, 0055 Hours-**

"Its about time you all showed up," said Robinson, "What the hell were you doing out there, roasting marshmallows?" There was fear in the cocky young man's voice.

"Brady," said Fielder, "Be quiet."

The young mechanic frowned and did as told. He watched as the returning crewmembers sat down, noticing that each was quiet. Their silence unnerved him and made him feel even more uneasy.

Kelly Larkin could see the somber looks on the faces of the returning personnel. She saw that the normally relaxed and easygoing Dr. Stone was looking tired and stressed, Sparky looked sick, and Harrison looked worried. The fact that Harrison looked worried made her feel uncomfortable. The station commander was usually a professional looking, and sometimes stern appearing, man who carried an air of authority everywhere he went. He was an unflappable man who didn't balk at any of the unforeseen problems that periodically arose. However something had affected him.

As soon as the gunfire went off the general feeling of confusion that had been felt in the room had been replaced with apprehension and unease. There had been much talking and even some shouting in regards to the gunfire but this was quickly quieted by Professor Sterling and the FBI agents. Things got tenser as Harrison and others had left and later returned. Their expressions of uncertainty had served to make the feeling of what could only be described as dread, grow.

Harrison sat down in an empty chair next to MacReady and Childs, "OK, I'm listening."

The two men looked at one another for a moment and finally MacReady spoke, "What you need to do is get every single weapon you have, rope, fuel, and fire extinguishers."

"Excuse me, but what are you talking about?" asked Anderson who came up to them.

"We're discussing what to do about the situation," said Harrison who slipped into a calm and collected poise that he had developed in his time in the military, "These men have both survived this thing and they've been cleared as uninfected."

Anderson appraised the two men: They had indeed managed to survive the ordeal at Outpost 31 and were, by virtue of that fact, the resident experts at hand. The order had been given by Langley to kill the organism and these two men for the foremost experts at that.

"What would you men do if you were in charge of this situation," Anderson asked the two survivors.

Childs responded, "First we have to make sure that everyone is who they say they are. Second and this is if everyone here is human, we need to arm ourselves and find the Thing that's in the air ducts."

"Its in the air ducts?"

"Ask your buddy over there," Childs said and nodded at Agent Kaczmisrky.

Kaczmirsky saw that Anderson was looking at him, "What? I don't know what he's going on about."

"The Thing we heard moving around in the air duct."

The agent got quiet and then said, "It was nothing…probably a rat."

"In Antarctica?" said MacReady with a sarcastic laugh.

"It could've stowed away on a ship and then gotten here on a supply plane."

"Believe that if you want."

Agent Hudson spoke up, "The crew has been getting worried."

"Sir we can't start testing people, I mean what are we going to tell them, that something is hiding inside them? They'd panic," said Kaczmirsky.

Doyle Killian who had been eavesdropping on the men spoke up loudly, "I know what I saw."

Everyone turned to look at the pilot who stood and looked at the rest of the gathered.

"Mr. Killian wait," said Dr. Sterling.

Killian ignored Sterling and continued, "I saw some _thing _attacking Howard… It was some kind of animal-thing that was…that was taking him over."

The crew exchanged frightened glances with one another.

"Mr. Killian," warned Dr. Sterling.

"It was infecting him and if you don't believe me go ask Schultz."

Sam Egan looked down at Marvin Schultz, whom he had been keeping an eye on, and said, "What did you really see Marv."

"Some fucking thing was killing Kevin!" blurted the distraught man.

The crew began to murmur with each other.

Dr. Donaldson rushed to Schultz's side, "Marvin you need to be calm, the stress has been get-."

"Fuck that Donaldson! It killed Kevin!"

The room erupted into pandemonium.

The crew began to argue amongst themselves as they struggled to comprehend what was going on. Dr. Donaldson and Egan struggled to calm Schultz, Willie Harper was asking Neil Alvarez to explain what was going on, Righetti swore and went back to knocking pool balls into pockets, Robinson called bullshit, and Jen Fielder told him to shut up.

Anderson looked to his men and nodded. The men began to discretely move to the edges of the room where they positioned themselves in a cordon that blocked the crew from moving from the center of the room.

Anderson was about to step in when a burst of a fire extinguisher caught everyone's attention. Anderson's men brought their weapons up to the ready but refrained from firing on the man who held the fire extinguisher.

Steven Harrison, Lieutenant Colonel US Army retired, had just done something that would be considered irresponsible as well as negligent if he had still been in the service. However he needed to regain control of his station and by spraying the fire retardant he had done just that. All eyes were on him.

"This is what's going to happen," he said with absolute authority in his voice, "Everyone in here, myself included, will have a small blood sample drawn. It will be tested in full view of everyone for any signs of infection by an _outside _agent. You may think that this is uncalled for but believe me it is in the best interests of all of us. Some of you will be skeptical about this but there are some of you who have witnessed things in the past several hours which validate this course of action," he paused and then said to Dr. Stone, "Everett, go to the infirmary and bring the necessary equipment here and be sure to bring any remaining samples of the infected blood, you have some don't you?"

"Yes…I kept some in the fridge," answered the doctor.

"Good," said Harrison as he turned his attention to Anderson, "Can you have some of your men escort Dr. Stone and Professor Larkin to the infirmary?"

"Yes," answered Anderson.

Kelly Larkin looked at Harrison and said, "Me?"

"If you would that way Everett won't be alone with them…Neil you go too."

"Got it boss," answered Alvarez who still cradled his shotgun.

"It's time to cut down on all of the paranoia here," said Harrison who looked to Childs and MacReady, "Time for your plan."


	6. Chapter 6: MacReady and Child's Idea

Chapter 6: MacReady and Child's Idea

_"Trust, but verify,"-Ronald Reagan_

**The Recreation Room, 0130 Hours-**

The picture of Antarctic explorer and aviator Lincoln Ellsworth looked out at the crew of his namesake station and their visitors as they awaited their blood tests. The famed explorer had made four expeditions to Antarctica, flown across the icy continent, and had had several geographical features such as Lake Ellsworth, Mount Ellsworth, and the Ellsworth Range named after him.

Kelly Larkin looked at the black and white photograph of the great explorer. The noble-faced, fair haired man wore a thick jacket complete with a mane of feather-like fur that ringed his neck. It was an image from a bygone era.

_I wonder how he would handle this, _Kelly thought as she finished laying out the last of the specimen containers on the table and nodded to Dr. Stone. The doctor gave her a weary smile and then nodded to Harrison.

"So how are we going to do this?" asked Howell, "Draw straws?"

"I'm going first," said Harrison, "After Everett tests the infected sample."

Everett Stone picked up the container of infected blood and spoke, "This blood has been infected by a virulent organism, I am going to touch it with a heated piece of wire to provoke a reaction."

Kelly picked up a piece of wire that had been brought from a storage room that she, Dr. Stone, and the agents had passed by on the way back from the infirmary. She handed it to Agent Mayerling who heated it with a Bunsen burner.

"Everyone, please observe," said Dr. Stone as he motioned for Mayerling to dip the hot wire into the blood.

The crew and agents watched as the professor dipped the hot metal into the specimen container that Stone had placed back on the table.

"Boy are they gonna get a surprise," said Childs with a grim smile.

MacReady gave a light chuckle in response.

The reaction was instant: As soon as the hot wire touched the blood everyone other than those who had witnessed the reaction before either jumped up or moved back.

"HOLY SHIT!" bellowed Righetti.

The normally unflappable Jen Fielder flinched.

Willie Harper jumped up from his seat, "What the hell?"

Brady Robinson promptly passed out.

"Now that you have seen this," said Harrison who motioned with his hands for calm, "I am going to have my blood drawn and tested in front of all of you…by the way, we will all have our hands tied to the chair during the testing."

"Uh Steve," said Donaldson with trepidation in his voice, "There must be a rational explanation for this."

"There is a rational explanation," said MacReady, "We were telling the truth."

"This is probably some abnormality," replied the doctor who quickly banished the trepidation from his voice, "Some sort of chemical reaction."

"Uh guys," said Sparky Reynolds in a boyish tone.

"Yeah?" answered Georgiou.

"I think Brady fainted."

Jen Fielder looked at the young mechanic who's had indeed fainted and was lying still on a couch, "Pussy."

Nervous laughter filled the room.

"Going to do this Mr. Harrison?" asked Anderson.

"Yes," said Harrison who knew that he had to lead by example. He sat down and allowed himself to be tied to the chair. He then looked to Dr. Stone, "Ready?"

"Ready."

Anderson's men kept their weapons at the ready for any sign of a violent reaction by any of the crew.

The crowd watched as Dr. Stone drew a vial of blood from Harrison and then emptied it into a container. Mayerling heated up the sample. Nothing.

"Everyone see that?"

A smattering of yeses and yeahs came from the crowd.

"Everett you're next."

Stone allowed himself to be tied up had his sample drawn from Larkin. His blood tested negative.

Next followed Mayerling, who provided a sample of his own out of good faith. No one expected the agents to provide samples but Anderson wanted his men to give blood in the hopes that it would calm the fears that the crew had and also to make sure that his own people hadn't been compromised. Mayerling was negative.

"Whoa, wait a minute," said Max Righetti who pointed to Childs and MacReady, "What about them two?"

"They've been tested," answered Stone.

"So? I didn't see that."

Murmurs filled the room

"Test them again Everett," said Harrison who turned to MacReady and Childs, "Sorry gentlemen but we're going to need another sample."

"It's like I'm getting a paternity test done," said Childs who provided his sample. Nothing.

Next was MacReady's turn. Nothing.

A yawn sounded and Kelly Larkin looked to its source. Brady Robinson had finally woken up. The mechanic looked around and said, "What'd I miss?"

"Nothing," said Willie Harper, "Its your turn."

"Turn for what?"

"To get the shit beat out of you," said Jen Fielder, "Go give a blood sample."

The mechanic looked around sheepishly, "Oh yeah, OK."

As soon as the needle touched Brady's arm he turned pale and passed out again.

"What a bitch," said Alvarez.

"Wake his ass up once his sample is tested," said Killian who had finally regained his composure from his earlier outburst.

Robinson tested negative and was woken up by Dr. Stone who placed smelling salts under his nose.

"Whoa! What'd I miss?" asked the mechanic.

"Can't stand the sight of blood?" asked the doctor.

Robinson blushed, "It gets to me."

Nervous laughter followed.

By now all of the tested crewmembers had been moved to one side of the room, away from the untested.

As the tests were being conducted, Dr. Morgan and Anderson discussed the organism.

"Any ideas what this thing is Alex…it comes across as a virus to me."

"I've been thinking a lot about this," said Morgan, "It seems like a virus, an intelligent one anyway, but why would it take on the characteristics of its victims as well as their intelligence? It doesn't make sense. Nothing I've ever heard of acts like this. Killing and replacing serves no purpose."

"It is extraterrestrial so would its purpose even make sense to us?"

"Good point of course it could be something artificial."

"Artificial?"

"A manufactured virus developed by someone for some purpose."

"Such as?"

"A biological weapon perhaps or maybe it was something that went wrong and was dropped off here to keep it from spreading on its homeworld."

"What about the crashed ship?"

"It could have gotten loose and killed the crew and then crash landed here."

Marcus Hardy kept his bandaged arm still as he stood up and went to the side where all of the other tested individuals were. Roughly half had been tested including three of the FBI agents. He looked around and saw that Sam Egan was helping Jerry Hale to the seat for his test. The radio operator still looked unsteady after the beating that had been inflicted on him by Youzumi.

"Here let me help you," said Hardy as he grabbed Hale's left arm and assisted Egan in sitting the man down.

"Thanks professor," said Hale.

On the tested side of the room MacReady leaned to Harrison and said, "This is the guy who was jumped"

"Yes," answered Harrison.

"Get ready."

Harrison looked at the scraggly pilot and saw that he was quietly talking to Childs. Both men appeared to be readying themselves for a potential violent reaction. Harrison glanced to Hale and unconsciously touched his .45.

"OK that should be enough," said Dr. Stone as he withdrew the needle from Jerry Hale. He emptied the blood into a specimen container and then handed it to Mayerling. The virologist heated up the wire and dipped it into the blood.

The reaction was instant. The blood shot up from the container so quickly that Mayerling yanked his hand away and the container dropped to the floor. Sam Egan tripped and fell to the floor and Larkin and Stone backed away from Hale who was violently shaking in his chair.

"That's it!" yelled MacReady who looked around the room for a weapon.

"Fucking kill it!" bellowed Childs.

"Back away!" said Anderson over the confusion that had erupted.

His agents came forward with their guns drawn. Callum brought up his MP5-N and was followed by Kaczmirsky, O'Rourke, and Hudson who produced identical submachine guns from their packs.

Alvarez and Georgiou brought up their shotguns but before anyone could open up on the Hale-Thing it broke free of its bonds and latched onto the first person it could.

The Hale-Thing grabbed onto Kelly Larkin who screamed as the creature's human face began to change. All of a sudden it felt someone grab its arms. It turned and saw that the doctor had grabbed it and was trying to pull it away from the struggling woman.

"Pull her away!" yelled Dr. Stone as he attempted to wrestle the Thing away from Larkin.

"I don't have a shot!" said O'Rourke in a loud voice as he tried to get a bead on the Thing but he didn't want to risk shooting either of the two civilians.

The Hale-Thing let go of Larkin and lunged at the doctor. Its head split down the middle and a set of jaws erupted from the opening and clamped down on the doctor's face.

Pain filled Dr. Everett Stone's body as the creature bit into his face. He could feel the creature's deformed head enveloped his and at the instant his heart went out, mercifully sparing him any further pain.

"Fuck me," said Max Righetti who stood stock still as he stared at the scene that was playing out. An instant later he snapped out of his reverie and clutched his pool stick like a baseball bat.

"Motherfucker," whispered Georgiou as he saw Dr. Stone's body go limp. He pulled the trigger and hit the monstrosity with a blast of buckshot.

The booming shotgun initiated fire from the armed men which filled the Rec Room with a thunderous cacophony.

As soon as the Hale-Thing had reacted MacReady and Childs had went to the room's small bar which was kept locked during most of the day and busted the lock off with a fire extinguisher. Both men grabbed bottles, opened them, and stuffed napkins into them.

"Gimme a light!" roared Childs.

Doyle Killian tossed a Bic lighter to Childs who lit his and MacReady's napkins.

"Stand back," said MacReady as he and Child threw their Molotov Cocktails at the Thing.

The Thing tossed the lifeless body of the doctor against the wall and howled in pain as bullets tore into its flesh. It turned and faced the crew who had crowded along a wall and saw that it had blocked them from escaping out the door. It roared at them and readied to jump into the crowd. Just then it saw Childs and MacReady step forward and hurl two bottles at it.

Anderson reloaded and watched as two Molotov Cocktails crashed into the Thing and set it ablaze.

The Thing screamed in pain as fire engulfed most of its body. In a fit of rage it ran toward the crowd who immediately scattered except for one of the who wasn't fast enough.

Agent Kaczmirsky had just ejected a spent magazine and was in the process of reloading when the Thing made its charge. He looked up just in time to see the flaming beast come running at him. He rammed a fresh magazine into the submachine gun but didn't have time for anything else.

The burning creature grabbed the unfortunate agent and in one swift move of its deformed hands, decapitated him.

The remaining agents opened back up on the Thing as it killed their comrade and were aided by Jen Fielder who tossed a bottle of Seagram's 7 Whiskey at it.

The Thing felt the sting of the flames and fell to the floor where it thrased and then and lay still.

"Put it out!" yelled Harrison to his men.

Marcus Hardy and MacReady moved in with fire extinguishers, and under the cover of the FBI agents, doused the flaming body with fire retardant.

"Nobody leaves!" ordered Anderson as he directed Agent Hudson to take up a position at the room's entrance, "Not until we get the situation sorted out!"

As soon as the blaze was put out everyone became quiet and stared at the hideous sight on the floor.

Agent O'Rourke took one look at Kaczmirsky's headless body and his head and cursed.

Professor Sterling moved tentatively over to Dr. Stone's body and almost fainted as he took in what _used to be _the doctor's face. He turned pale and had to steady himself to keep from falling.

Kelly Larkin was badly shaken up and slumped against the wall where she was attended to by Willie Harper.

MacReady broke the silence; "So Doc, does this still look like it has a rational explanation."

Dr. Timothy Donaldson looked at R.J. MacReady and then looked away. He walked to the bar, grabbed a bottle of Jack Daniels and poured himself a shot.

"What the hell are you doing?" said Alvarez.

"I need a drink," said the visibly shaken psychiatrist.

"We're gonna need that stuff!" said Alvarez, "If you're freaked by this then we're all screwed!"

"I'm perfectly fine! I just need a small drink that's all," _I should have taken a teaching job!_

"Is everyone OK?" asked Harrison.

The crew indicated that they were OK, or as OK as one can be after witnessing what had just taken place.

"We need to evac this place now!" said Killian.

"We can't, the weather is too bad," said Hardy.

"Then what?"

"We have to make sure it's completely dead," added Childs.

"Well it looks pretty dead to me," said Willie Harper in a shaky voice.

Brady Robinson was amazed that he hadn't fainted when he saw Hale turn into a monster and kill Doc Stone and the FBI agent. The sight of blood being drawn as well as having his won drawn had caused him to pass out but for some odd reason this hadn't caused the same reaction from him. Maybe fainting twice in one day was his limit. He did his best to control his breathing and looked over at the steaming body on the floor.

The still body twitched. Its head rose up and its neck began to elongate.

Brady couldn't move or make a sound. He just stood rooted to the spot as he watched the body reanimate.

Hale's head separated from its body in a wet popping sound and pulled along its backbone with it. The bone completely extricated itself from the rest of the body by means of long leg-like growths that had sprouted from the vertebrae. Finally free of the rest of the body, it began to walk away, making tapping sounds as its legs touched the floor.

The sound attracted the attention of a few of the others who quieted and turned to see the head and backbone as it made its way toward a floor level heating duct. Now the entire room watched in amazed horror as the head and backbone of what was once Jerry Hale's doppelganger moved to make its escape.

Brady Robinson stared at the horrid scene before him and said to no one in particular, "You gotta be fucking kidding."

Neil Alvarez made the sign of the cross and then shot the obscenity. His blast precipitated more gunfire and another Molotov cocktail.

The other incarnation of the Thing stood idle as it watched the Hale-Thing meet its end at the hands of the crew. Once again it was MacReady and Childs who were overall responsible for killing its other incarnation. It fumed at the two men but maintained it façade as the station's geologist. It like several of the crew had yet to be tested.


	7. Chapter 7: Stranded

Chapter 7: Stranded

"_I trust no one, not even myself"-Joseph Stalin_

**The Infirmary, 0205 Hours-**

While the station crew and agents were battling with the Hale-Thing, the Thing's incarnation that had been scurrying around in the air ducts dropped down into the infirmary. The organism had the ability to absorb and retain the memories of whatever it assimilated and it had watched the initial blood tests from a duct overlooking the Rec Room and it had then quietly crept away to the infirmary. It used its preprogrammed ability to reason to deduce that there would be other blood drawing equipment somewhere inside the infirmary. It had been correct in its deductions and had destroyed the remaining blood drawing implements and trashed the room as well while its Hale incarnation was being tested. Satisfied that the equipment was destroyed, it returned to the air ducts.

**The Mess Hall, 0230 Hours-**

With the Rec Room being out of commission due to damages by gunfire, fire, and the Thing's actions, Harrison and Anderson had ordered that everyone would be moved to the Mess Hall.

The crowd entered and was split into two groups: Tested and Untested.

There wasn't much in the way of conversation as everyone was busy struggling to come to grips with what they had just witnessed, however Max Righetti decided to say something.

"OK so now what the hell do we do?" said the radio operator.

"We need to continue to check everyone who hasn't been tested," answered Sterling who looked to Harrison and Anderson, "We still need to verify who's human and who isn't."

"We're going to need to get some people over to the infirmary and get more equipment then," said Anderson, "O'Rourke, take some others and go over there and bring back some syringes and whatever else is needed."

"You got it sir," said the agent.

"Hey wait a minute," said Righetti, "Shouldn't the untested people have their guns taken away until their tested? I mean what's to say one of them isn't fucked up?"

"You haven't been tested Mr. Righetti," said Anderson.

That quieted Righetti.

"Alvarez, Killian, go with O'Rourke," said Harrison, "And one of you two."

Childs and MacReady looked at one another, "I'll go," said Childs who took his place with the selected men.

"Hey I can be tested," said Willie Harper. He stood up and walked to the middle of the room and presented his bandaged thumb. "I got stitched up yesterday. All I have to do is yank them out and spill some blood and then one of you can burn it."

Harrison and Anderson looked at each other from across the room and nodded in agreement.

"OK Harper, do it," said Harrison.

Harper unwrapped his bandages, grabbed a piece of thread, and pulled. He gritted his teeth as the stitches came undone. He then squeezed the open wound until several drops hit the floor. Satisfied that enough blood had been spilt he backed away.

Neil Alvarez went to the blood and knelt beside it. He pulled out his Zippo, flicked it open, and lit it. He slowly touched the flame to the blood.

It seemed as if everyone had held their breath at that moment and then let out a collective sigh of relief as the blood failed to react to the fire.

"You're good to go Willie," said Alvarez in a relieved sounding voice.

The visibly relieved mechanic walked to the tested side and sat down at a table.

**The Infirmary, 0237 Hours-**

"This isn't good," said Alvarez as he took in the scene of the trashed lab.

"Who the hell did this?" asked O'Rourke as he looked at the damage.

"Not who but _what_," said Childs, "It's up there in the air ducts."

The four men looked up to the open air duct grate.

"Let's go back to the Mess Hall," said Killian in a nervous voice. The pilot, like both Jen Fielder and R.J. MacReady had spent time in the Army and he was used to stressful situations but nothing had ever prepared him for what he had been through in the past few hours. Compared to this, the Army's Survival, Evade, Resist, Extract course was a piece of cake.

"I'm with you on that," said Alvarez.

**The Mess Hall, 0242 Hours-**

"So we have no means of testing anyone?" said Harrison on hearing that the Infirmary had been ransacked.

"Well we can improvise," said Anderson as he and Harrison listened to Agent O'Rourke, "Harper did it."

"Sir may I speak with you in private?" asked O'Rourke.

"Of course," said Anderson who walked to a corner table away from the others while Harrison eyed them suspiciously.

On the tested side of the room Sam Egan looked to Professor Hardy and voiced something that had been bothering him.

"Isn't it kind of odd that these guys just happened to be packing enough firepower to overthrow a Third-World country? I mean why would the Feds bring this stuff to investigate a couple of unarmed guys from a trashed base…all they'd need is their handguns."

"They're not FBI Sam, I'd bet my degree on it," answered the balding professor.

"Talk to me professor."

"When we were speaking to a couple of them in the infirmary Dr. Stone said to them that they weren't FBI and they just kind of gave him this odd look. Call it a hunch but I'd say their either military or CIA."

Why would the military or CIA show up here for two guys who destroyed their base? I mean they couldn't have known about this thing."

"No they wouldn't have," said the engineering professor, "Unless of course they were tipped off."

"By who?"

"Some other government agency, perhaps the NSA."

"OK professor," said the cook with a trace of sarcasm, "I know the NSA is a government agency but what does NSA stand for?"

"National Security Agency."

MacReady was enjoying a cup of coffee and a doughnut when Doyle Killian came up to him and sat down.

"How can you eat a doughnut with all this shit that's going down Mac?" asked Killian.

MacReady took a drink and then answered, "Try living with this thing for a few days and it'll get old real quick."

"How did you and Childs stop it?"

"We didn't its still here."

"In one of us? I mean the untested guys?"

"Yeah or at least it's moving around in the air ducts."

Killian looked up to the ceiling and noticed the air ducts nearer to the walls, "Once this weather calms down I'm loading up the tested guys and were gonna get the hell out of this place. The others can get tested by whoever else comes here."

MacReady smiled, "No one is going to leave this place alive," MacReady cocked his head in the direction of Anderson and O'Rourke, "They probably have some sort of plan that involves no witnesses."

Doyle Killian looked into MacReady's eyes and realized what his fellow pilot was leading to, "Think they'd actually kill all of us?"

MacReady took another sip and spoke, "They've seen what it can do."

"So they're going to leave us here?"

"More than likely."

Killian got up to leave but stopped and turned around. He pulled out his wallet and took two $20 bills and a $10 and handed them to MacReady, "In case I don't get another chance."

"It's about time I get my winnings," said MacReady as he pocketed the money that Killian owed him.

Killian smiled grimly and walked off.

Anderson listened to O'Rourke as the agent explained his idea.

"We can test ourselves like that mechanic did. We can cut ourselves and then test the blood. Once we clear our team Callum and I can get the chopper ready to go, we'll call you on the radio and then you and the others can get on over to the hangar and then we leave."

"You and Callum will disable their helicopters?" asked Anderson.

"Yes."

Anderson debated the idea in his head. It would be easy to test his own people and once that was done all he had to do was leave and allow the Air Force to do its job. He'd make another call to Langley and inform his superiors that the station was a total loss and that sterilization was the only viable option. He knew that the deputy director would be behind his course of action; of course it did seem inhumane to abandon the station's crew to their fates. Dr. Morgan was right about it being inhuman but given what they were dealing with, this was the only safe option.

"Alright O'Rourke, you and Callum do it, but wait until I give the word."

"Yes sir."

"How are you feeling Kelly," asked Harrison as he sat down next to the geophysicist.

"Been better," said Kelly.

"That was a brave thing that he did," Harrison said regarding Dr. Stone.

The geophysicist smiled sadly, "Yes it was…So now what do we do?"

"The Infirmary was wrecked and we're out testing material but Harper reopened his wound and tested himself so I think we can each cut ourselves and have our blood tested."

"That could work," she said and then looked to Anderson and O'Rourke, "I don't trust them."

Harrison saw that the two agents were still talking with themselves in private. Something wasn't adding up about these men. He had reasons to doubt that they were FBI agents who had been on temporary on assignment in New Zealand. His career in the military taught him something; it was how to tell when people were hiding something from you. Anderson and his men had CIA written all over them. What kind of FBI agents traveled with an arsenal of submachine guns to investigate two men who had already been sequestered with ease? They had to be Spooks.

"Neither do I Kelly…neither do I."

Childs leaned over to MacReady and said, "Now that the Feds aren't too concerned with us," he indicated that Agent Hudson had left them alone due to his being on the untested side of the room, "We can talk about what to do next."

MacReady looked around and made sure that no one was watching them. Satisfied that there were no eavesdroppers he said, "The Thing is going to try to get away from here and off the continent."

"I guessed that."

"I'd bet $50 on there being more than just the one in the air ducts."

"I wouldn't be stupid enough to bet against you," said Childs who scanned the uninfected, "Any ideas who it is?"

"No but we can't afford to wait around here and find out cause sooner or later it will make its next move."

"It'll go for the helicopters."

"That means that it'll need to take over one of the pilots next…if it hasn't already."

"Well that leaves Killian, Fielder, the FBI pilot," Childs paused and smiled at MacReady, "And you."

"What the hell are you smiling at me for?" asked MacReady.

"Aside from myself you're the most valuable person here."

"Why are you more important than me?" MacReady asked with genuine surprise, "I'm the one who's the pilot."

"Because," Childs said with a sly grin, "You're not me."

**The Air Ducts, 0315 Hours-**

The Thing in the air duct had slowly made its way into the portion of the air duct that was directly over the center of the room. It peered out of the grate and saw that the people below had divided themselves into two groups. It presumed one group was made up of those who had been tested and those that were untested.

It saw the station's commander walk to the center of the room and call everyone to attention. The man began to speak about how they were going to restart testing to determine who was infected and who wasn't. It needed to act as soon as possible before it lost any chance at taking them by surprise. It had a purpose to fulfill and it needed to resume its objectives before its incarnation in the geologist was tested.

It readied itself to strike.

**The Mess Hall, 0318 Hours-**

As soon as Harrison had finished speaking to the crowd about resuming testing via sterilized knives and lighters, Anderson walked up to him and spoke.

"What do you think you're doing Mr. Harrison?" asked the agent.

"We need to start retesting as quickly as possible and then once we know we're all safe then all we have to do is wait until the weather clears and we can evacuate the station."

Anderson wasn't pleased by this, "And if one of the crew is infected, then what?"

"Hopefully we'll kill it like the last one."

"This course of action is potentially dangerous."

The two men noticed that the attention of the crowd was now on them.

Harrison lowered his voice, "So is having you leave us here with it."

"What are you getting at?" said Anderson with a trace of anger in his quiet voice.

"I spent a fair amount of time in the military and I can tell a Spook when I see one."

Anderson's eyes widened and he said with a smile, "Twenty two years infantry as well as a stint in intelligence Mr. Harrison."

"You've done your homework."

"Always."

"You'll leave us here."

"Perhaps we should continue this discussion in a less crowded place."

"Perhaps."

The two men parted a second before the air duct grate over the center of the room crashed open disgorging the Thing.

"Not again!" said Sam Egan who ran away toward the kitchen.

"Shoot it!" screamed Jen Fielder.

The FBI agents and the armed members of the crew opened fire on the beast as the rest of the crew scrambled in panic.

Agent Hudson attempted to block the crew from leaving the room but he was knocked to the ground by several of the panicked crewmembers.

"They're getting away!" Hudson screamed.

Anderson saw the chaos and yelled to O'Rourke and Callum, "Go!"

The two agents stopped firing and headed out the room toward the hangar.

Hudson regained his footing and ran toward the Thing and opened fire.

The Thing screamed in rage and jumped upon agent Hudson who lost the grip on his MP5-N. The creature glared at the agent and tore into the man's throat with its canine-like head.

As luck would have it the submachine gun slid across the floor and ended up at Childs feet. He grabbed the weapon which had an extra magazine taped to the one that was inserted into the magazine well. He looked to MacReady, "Lets go after those two!"

MacReady followed Childs out of the room in pursuit of Callum and O'Rourke.

Bullets tore into the Thing and caused it to back off to a corner where it howled in rage at the men.

"Somebody burn this fucking thing!" said Alvarez as he emptied his last shotgun round into the beast. He dropped back and reloaded the weapon with his dwindling supply of rounds.

"Watch out!" yelled Willie Harper who stepped forward with a Molotov Cocktail of Myers' Dark Rum. He threw the bottle at the Thing and immediately it went up in flames.

Sparky Reynolds followed with a bottle of Gordon's Dry Gin and Brady Robinson tossed in a bottle of Jim Beam. Momentarily the Thing collapsed and lay still.

Harrison and Anderson looked around and saw that everyone who wasn't armed and with the FBI had left the room with the exception of Professors Sterling and Larkin who were cowering in a corner, and Dr. Donaldson who cautiously stepped forward clutching a butcher knife that he had retrieved from the kitchen.

"Sonofabitch," said Anderson, "The others left."

As soon as the Thing had came down from the ceiling, all the unarmed personnel had fled in a hurry. Some went on their own and a few stayed in groups, the Thing among them.

**Sam Egan's Quarters, 0325 Hours-**

As soon as its fellow incarnation had attacked, the Thing in the geologist guise had followed the cook to the kitchen. It then grabbed the man and explained to him that it wasn't safe there and that they should go elsewhere. The young man agreed and the two had left and met up with one of the station's pilots and a mechanic.

Now the four of them were inside the quarters of the cook.

"What the fuck do we do what the fuck do we do?" said the panicked cook.

"OK everyone lets calm down," said the Thing, "Let's just be calm."

"Fuck that man," said Marvin Schultz who's fears had only gotten worse in the past few hours, "We're all gonna die!"

"Marvin be calm," said the pilot, who along with Egan turned from the geologist and focused their attention on the hysterical man.

Marvin looked past the two to the professor who reached for the light switch and plunged the room into darkness.

**The Hangar, 0330 Hours-**

O'Rourke and Callum had each taken a helicopter as soon as they had entered the hangar. They quickly went to work to disable the controls and engines of both aircraft. They needed to make sure that no one other than the team could leave Ellsworth Station.

Their next mission was to secure their helicopter and wait until the rest of the team arrived. However they were interrupted by a gust of cold air.

O'Rourke turned toward the door thinking it was Anderson and the others and now found himself staring at the barrel of an MP5.

"Planning on leaving without us?" asked Childs who grabbed O'Rourke's sidearm and tossed it to MacReady who aimed it at Callum who had just stepped out of the FBI team's helicopter. The man was pissed that the two agents had disabled the helicopters.

Callum had his submachine gun slung over his shoulder and had no time react once he saw the 9mm pointed at him.

"Sonofabitch," swore Callum.

"Time for you two to give up your weapons," said MacReady.

"Fuck you MacReady," said O'Rourke.

"You already fucked me O'Rourke and everyone else by messing with the helicopters," said MacReady who pulled O'Rourke's MP5 off of him while still keeping his aim on Callum. Then MacReady went to Callum and took away the man's pistol and MP5. MacReady looked at O'Rourke and said, "Now I'm going to fuck you over."

On the way to the hangar both MacReady and Childs had discussed the fact that the Thing couldn't be allowed to leave Antarctica. Yelling over the howling wind they had decided that the only sensible thing that could be done was to prevent anyone from leaving, even if it meant being stuck at the station with the Thing. They couldn't trust anyone getting away…not even themselves.

O'Rourke watched in anger as MacReady proceeded to go inside the Sea Stallion and shoot up the controls effectively stranding everyone at Ellsworth with the Thing.


	8. Chapter 8: The Purpose

Chapter 8: The Purpose

_ "Fear defeats more people than any one thing in the world,"-Ralph Waldo Emerson_

**The Mess Hall, 0345 Hours-**

Neil Alvarez walked up to Harrison and quietly spoke, "What do you want to do about the others? A lot of them took off."

"We'll need to get everyone back in one place," replied Harrison who looked to Anderson, "Where exactly did your men go?"

Anderson heard the acid in Harrison's question and said, "I sent them to secure the helicopter."

"I imagine that you'll be leaving us then?"

"Whatever gave you that idea?"

Harrison took note of the trace of sarcasm in the agent's voice. "It seems to me like that'd be something a spook would do."

Thomas Sterling, who had been watching the conversation, decided to step in, "Gentlemen please; we've all been through a lot the past few hours and turning against one another isn't going to help anyone. We need to work together."

"We don't even know who is who," interjected Brady Robinson, "I mean people took off and some of us in here haven't been tested…I mean what if one of you is fucked up?"

"I suggest that we get on the PA and call for our fellow survivors to come here so we can do like what Mr. Harper did," said Anderson who nodded to Willie Harper.

"Good idea Anderson," said Harrison coldly, "And while we're at it, why don't we call your people back?"

Anderson looked like he was about to say something but was stopped when a voice called out, "That won't be necessary."

The assembled turned to the Mess Hall's door and saw agents O'Rourke and Callum being led in by Childs and MacReady.

**The Radio Room, 0350 Hours-**

"This sucks," said Max Righetti as he examined the badly damaged communications equipment.

"I take it you can't fix it then," said Professor Marcus Hardy as he stood in the doorway of the radio room.

"I wouldn't know where to begin."

"OK then maybe we can get into one of the vehicle bays and get in a snow plow and drive to the nearest base."

"That'd be Byrd."

"Yes, think we can make it?"

"Not until the weather dies down but are best chance would be to grab Killian or Fielder and get them to fly us out."

"I have a feeling our FBI friends won't allow that," said the engineering professor.

"Fuck the Feds, fuck waiting here, and fuck that thing professor we need to get the hell away from this place!"

"I couldn't agree more Max," the sound of footsteps caught Hardy's attention, "Someone's coming!"

"Hey!" yelled Righetti, "Who is that?"

"Hey Max it's me, Killian!"

"Wait where you are," said Hardy who turned to Max, "We don't have any weapons!"

"Think it's him?" said the wide-eyed radio operator.

"It's possible," said the professor who looked out at Doyle Killian who was standing in the hallway, "Where have you been?"

"Hiding in a storage closet, why?"

Righetti poked his head out of the radio room and both he and Hardy eyed the pilot with suspicion.

"Oh come on guys I'm not it! I'm me!" said Killian.

"Doyle!" came the voice of Jen Fielder.

Killian turned and saw his fellow pilot coming toward him from down the hall.

"Jen where the hell have you been?"

"I locked myself in my room," she answered.

"See anyone else?" asked Hardy.

"Not since I came out of my room but I'm sure everyone else is hiding."

"Maybe we should all go back to the Mess Hall."

"After that fucking scene happened," interjected Righetti, "You must be outta your damn mind!"

"You can stay here Max," said the professor.

"You know," said Jen who paused a moment and then continued, "We could go to the hangar and warm up the choppers."

"Finally someone with some sense!" said Righetti who stood up and walked out of the room, "I'm with Jen."

"We may all have to be tested again," said Hardy, "Just in case."

A moment after he spoke the voice of Steven Harrison came in over the PA system calling for all personnel to return to the Mess Hall.

**The Mess Hall, 0350 Hours-**

Anderson was royally pissed off, he along with Harrison and the others had been taken aback by the sudden appearance of MacReady and Childs and their captive agents. The two men had led their captives to a far table and had quietly eyed the people in the room.

"What the hell is the meaning of this!" roared Anderson.

"Harrison we'd like to speak with you," said Childs.

"Oh I'd like to speak to you!" said Anderson.

"Before any of you ask," said MacReady, "We caught these guys doing something that won't go over too well with you."

Agitation grew amongst the crewmembers as the turn of events played out.

Harrison had listened as Childs and MacReady explained the circumstances of the two agents capture as well as the incident with the helicopters. He then went to Anderson and quietly told him what had happened. By this time the lead agent had regained his composure despite knowing that the helicopters were now inoperable.

The two leaders had agreed to remain calm for the sake of order and had decided to take a head count of everyone who was still left.

"OK we're still missing Howell," said Professor Sterling as he watched Sam Egan and a much worn out looking Marvin Schultz walk into the room.

"Has anyone seen Professor Howell?" asked Harrison.

The returning crewmembers indicated that they had not seen the professor.

"He grabbed my and a few others and we ran out of here but then he took off outside," said Sam Egan, "Maybe he thinks that it's safer in one of the other buildings."

"That doesn't seem like something that Gordon would do," said Dr. Donaldson.

"What if that Thing got him?" asked Robinson, "What if he's all fucked up like the others?"

"Brady," said Jen Fielder in a stern voice, "Button it."

Robinson became quiet and sulked off to a table.

Harrison looked at the remaining people and realized that the odds were against Gordon Howell coming back to the room. More than likely the geologist had been killed by the creature and was now lurking somewhere in the facility waiting to strike, if Egan was right then the professor could be somewhere in another building.

"We're all here gentlemen," said Anderson to MacReady and Childs, "Now would you like to everyone what's on your mind?"

"What's on our minds Agent Anderson is you," replied Childs.

"Me?"

"Yeah you," said MacReady who took a drink out of a bottle of J&B Whiskey that he had grabbed once they had returned to the hall.

"Fucking alcoholic," muttered O'Rourke.

"We caught your men trashing the helicopters," said Childs in an accusatory tone.

Anderson remained quiet.

In a different part of the Mess Hall Mayerling made a suggestion; "Perhaps we should start testing again. We're all back now and we have enough firepower."

Childs heard the man's suggestion and said loudly, "Lot of good that'll do us."

Mayerling raised an eyebrow, "Why is that?"

MacReady smiled and said, "No one's going anywhere."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" asked Robinson, "What do you mean no one's going anywhere? As soon as I can I'm getting the fuck up on outta here!"

"Hope you don't mind walking kid," said Childs.

"Mr. Childs what are you getting at?" asked Kelly Larkin.

"These two bastards shot up our helicopter's controls!" said Callum in a loud voice.

A chorus of questions and curses went up throughout the assembled. For a moment it seemed as if the crowd would turn violent.

"Is this true?" asked Sterling.

"Yeah," said MacReady who received several cuss words and dirty looks, "I shot it up _after _these two bastards disabled your helicopters."

Everyone quieted and looked to Agent Anderson who stood looking at the Outpost 31 survivors. His face betrayed no emotions.

Sparky Reynolds spoke timidly, "Why'd they do that?"

"Cause Sparky," said MacReady, "Our friends were going to leave us here with the Thing while they got away."

Sparky shot a dirty look to Anderson and said coldly, "Bastard!"

Dr. Morgan walked up to his boss and spoke into his ear, "Gerald maybe we should tell them."

Anderson looked at the exobiologist and said, "Don't be ridiculous Alex."

"Tell them," said Morgan loud enough so that everyone could hear.

"Tell us what?" asked Harper.

"Yeah Anderson why don't you tell us why you're men disabled the helicopters," said Childs.

All eyes were on Anderson. The tall agent looked to Morgan and Mayerling who both nodded to him. He then walked to the center of the room and began.

"I gave the order for my men to disable your helicopters and to secure our own so that we could leave.

"You were going to leave us here to die?" asked Sterling in a disgusted sounding voice.

"We have our orders."

"Orders from who Anderson?" asked Professor Hardy, "I'm pretty sure no one at FBI Headquarters told you this."

"The charade is over Anderson," added Harrison, "You may as well come clean."

Anderson considered this for a moment and then spoke, "As you may have already guessed it, we are not FBI."

"I knew it!" said Harper.

"No shit," said MacReady.

Anderson ignored Harper's and MacReady's comments and continued, "My team and I are CIA and we were sent here to investigate the situation at Outpost 31 and Viking.

"Why both?" asked Harper.

"Because Mr. Harper," said Anderson in an icy tone, "That is where the transmission was intercepted from."

"What transmission would that be?" asked Killian.

Anderson was getting annoyed at the interruptions and decided to say something about it, "People…if you want to know then please allow me to continue uninterrupted."

"He's right, let him speak," said MacReady who propped his feet up on the table and added, "I'd love to hear this."

"Several days ago a transmission from Viking Base to Troll Station was picked up by the NSA. Viking reported that they had made a discovery about halfway between their base and Outpost 31," Anderson paused and then continued, "I'm not sure how many of you know this but I will go ahead and give you all a small background. The National Security Agency controls a large number of both satellites and ground-based listening posts. They have a particular program that scans the airwaves for both encrypted and unencrypted signals and they pay special attention to words like; 'Bomb, Jihad, and Martyr.' They also look for other words…words like crash and spaceship."

"Spaceship! I knew this thing was from space!" said Righetti.

"Yes Mr. Righetti, it comes from space," said Anderson who continued, "NSA intercepted word of the discovery by the Norwegians and my team was mobilized. We were enroute to a refueling point in New Zealand when word went out that contact had been lost with Outpost 31. Also, NSA informed us that a distress signal had earlier been sent to Troll by Viking stating that most of the personnel were dead."

"That explains why you brought all the firepower," said Larkin.

"Yes, it does Professor Larkin," said Anderson, "Our orders were to land at Outpost 31 and investigate. However NSA intercepted transmissions from this station regarding Outpost 31 and its survivors."

Righetti watched as Anderson looked at him and gave him a cold smile. "Sorry," said the radio operator.

"Once we had found this out we made the decision to forgo Outpost 31."

"That was a few days ago," said Sterling, "Why didn't you guys show up when all this happened?"

"Because Professor Sterling," said Anderson, "When we had first left we were told to standby by higher who informed us of Norway's response."

"What's Norway's response?" asked Harrison.

"The Norwegian's sent a company's worth of commandos down here and they were holding a perimeter around Viking."

"Are they still there?" asked Larkin.

"No they have moved on to Troll, they've abandoned Viking, we've been monitoring with satellites."

"Why?" asked Reynolds, "Didn't they find anything?"

"They have been asked by our government to vacate the premises Mr. Reynolds," said Anderson.

"Gee I wonder why," said Childs.

Anderson ignored Childs, "Once we knew that there were survivors from Outpost 31, we were ordered to take them with us but as you all know things didn't turn out that way."

"Listen Anderson," said MacReady, "Stop beating around the bush and tell us what you're planning to do."

"What are you planning to do?" asked Larkin.

"I can answer that," said Dr. Morgan, "I'm not CIA but I have been tasked by NASA to assist them in this mission. I'm a biologist with a specialty in exobiology which, before you ask, is the study of hypothetical extraterrestrial biologics. We were also tasked to obtain a sample of the organism but once we arrived here we discovered how dangerous this organism is. We even have backup in the form of Delta Force and Marine Recon on hand but now we've been forced to use a different option."

"What the hell is this organism?" asked Harper, "What kind of animal or alien or whatever it is does this stuff?"

"It appears to be a virus…a rather violent one and because of this we have been ordered to abandon the station and leave you here."

"What the hell happens to us then?" asked an irate Righetti.

"You stay here Mr. Righetti," said Anderson.

"With that Thing?" Righetti said angrily.

"Mr. Righetti," said Anderson, "We've done calculations on this organism. If it is allowed to leave Antarctica it will spread to every higher lifeform it encounters and it will completely infect the _entire _human race within 4 years."

A heavy silence filled the room as the assembled let the agent's words sink in. MacReady and Childs looked at eachother and both agreed with the CIA's decision. If the Thing was allowed to live then it meant the death of the human race.

"You're going to destroy the station," asked Donaldson in a quiet tone, "Aren't you?"

"Its that or let it out into the world."

"When," asked Righetti, "I mean what are you going to do?"

"We were ordered to abandon the station and leave you here," said Anderson, "Then the Air Force will come in and eliminate what's left of Outpost 31, Viking, and this station with a Themobaric weapon. The Air Force will stay on standby until one hour after the storm breaks and we leave…if we were to leave…otherwise they will send in the planes."

The incarnations of the Thing became agitated by this revelation. They needed to find a way out of the station as soon as possible. They needed to escape this frigid continent and carry out their pre-designated mission.

"What the fuck is a thermobaric weapon?" asked an angry Brady Robinson.

Harrison spoke in a flat, emotionless voice, "It's the most powerful non-nuclear weapon in existence."


	9. Chapter 9: Another Purpose

Chapter 9: Another Purpose

_"I am become Death, Destroyer of worlds,"-Bhagavad Gita_

**The Mess Hall, 0405 Hours-**

Harrison's words hung heavy in the silence of the room as everyone processed the information that they had just been told. In a matter of hours their station would be vaporized along with everyone of them unless they could escape.

MacReady didn't like the fact that he, Childs, and everyone was facing certain death at either the hands of the Thing or the Air Force but death was something that he had quickly become desensitized to. After all he had been through over the past few days he had come to the realization that he had virtually no chance of making it out of Antarctica alive. He was amazed that he had even made it this far.

Childs was feeling much the same as MacReady. He was tired, worn out and running on fumes. He had scarcely slept in days and it was showing. Despite his tiredness he pushed himself along. He knew that the odds were completely against him surviving the situation but he felt that he had been kept alive this long for a reason. He had a mission: kill the Thing and prevent it from spreading.

Harrison had faced death on more than one occasion: he had survived a car wreck as a teenager, jumped into Panama during Operation Just Cause and had faced an Iraqi Republican Guard brigade during Desert Storm. During the Gulf War he had received multiple lacerations caused by shrapnel from a near impact of a mortar round. The injuries could've been worse but because one nearby humvee taking most of the damage and a little bit of luck, he had been spared death. He always fancied himself as lucky but something told him that his luck was rapidly running out. Still he maintained his composure and steeled himself for what he knew lay ahead. He thought back to the events of the previous day when all of this madness had begun. The pickup of MacReady and Childs, the news of Outpost 31 and his friend Garry, as well as Dr. Donaldson's Foile a Deux theory. He chastised himself for thinking that Donaldson's theory was too outlandish to believe. Given the current situation he would welcome the situation being a Folie a Deux.

Anderson had been analyzing the situation since MacReady and Childs had shown up with Callum and O'Rourke. He and his men were trapped here with the station's crew and the organism. They had no helicopter and the Air Force was only going to remain on standby until one hour after the weather broke. Despite any misgivings between he and the civilians, he determined that it was in everyone's best interest to work together. There was still a chance at least some of them may survive.

"I have a plan," Anderson said.

The attention of the crowd was on him.

"You're going to call off the Air Force," asked Sparky with a little hope in his voice, "Tell me you guys have some way to talk to them."

Anderson did in fact, provided MacReady hadn't shot up their communications equipment. He turned to MacReady, "Mr. MacReady, when you were turning the helicopter's control panel to Swiss cheese, did you happen to shoot anything else?"

"No," said the pilot, "Why?"

"Because we have an encrypted radio in there that can patch us through to Langley."

"Fuckin-A man use it!" said Marvin Schultz who had appeared to have gotten over his earlier hysterics, "I don't want to die here!"

"I will but we are going to have to play by my rules."

"What if we go and use it ourselves?"

"Trust me Mr. Schultz, Langley won't talk to you."

"Alright then Anderson," said Harrison, "What's the catch?"

"We need to ensure that everyone here is who they are and not the creature. Then once we are sure that everyone is human, we will need to stick together and go to the hangar to make the call to Langley and explain our situation to them and inform them that we will move a safe distance from the station once we are able to," Anderson paused a moment before continuing, "The planes are under orders to strike an hour after the weather betters and according to meteorological reports that I was given prior to arriving, it should break a little after 0730. After that we will all pile into the snowplows and other vehicles and we will move to a safe distance from here, two miles should suffice."

"Then what?" asked Childs.

"Then we will wait for the follow on forces. Afterward we will probably be examined by military doctors and once cleared we will be moved off the continent."

"To where?"

"Diego Garcia," answered Anderson, "It's small, isolated, and well defended."

"And after that?" asked Alvarez who was less than thrilled by this. The Navy veteran had been to the small Indian Ocean island and knew that it wasn't the type of place that anyone could get away from. He suspected that neither he nor his fellow crewmembers would be allowed to leave.

"That's not up to me."

The room quieted again as everyone thought this through. Even if this option had a bad ending it was certainly better than being left to die by either explosion or extraterrestrial.

"I guess we'd better start testing then," said Kelly Larkin who pulled a scalpel out of her coat pocket, "We're going to need lighters and some bowls, Sam, do you think you can grab some bowls?"

"Sure thing Kelly," said the cook who went to the kitchen with Jen Fielder to grab the bowls.

"Are we going to have to test everyone again?" asked Robinson, "I already got tested."

"Don't want to faint again Brady?" asked Sparky with a mischievous smile that made belied his nervousness and stress.

Kelly looked at the young fresh-faced mechanic and smiled. The boyish Reynolds, who looked younger than his 21 years, wasn't letting the stress of the situation get to him.

Brady just glared and looked away from Sparky Reynolds.

Sam Egan and Jen Fielder returned with the bowls and placed them on a table with five lighters that had been gathered from the crew.

Declan O'Rourke felt a nudge at his shoulder. He turned and saw that MacReady was holding the submachine gun by the barrel and was presenting it to him.

MacReady saw the look of surprise on O'Rourke's face and said, "Here, we're going to need as many armed people as we can get."

The agent reluctantly took back the MP5-N, "Thanks but what about the other MP5?"

"We should divvy up the weapons between everyone who's tested," suggested MacReady.

"I agree," said Harrison, "Agent Anderson?"

"Its against regulation…but given the circumstances…yes."

"How many weapons do we have total?" asked Professor Sterling.

"Well we have two shotguns and one .45," said Georgiou who was sitting away from the rest of the crowd.

"I and my men brought five pistols and four submachine guns with us…some of which Misters Childs and MacReady have."

"Seeing as we're the resident experts on the Thing, Childs and I are going to keep a weapon apiece," said MacReady matter-of-factly.

Harrison was expecting Anderson to argue and was surprised when the agent acquiesced.

"Now that we have that out of the way," said Harrison, "Let's begin."

The testing resumed with those holding weapons being the first to be tested. The men passed their weapons off and allowed themselves to be tied to a chair while they were administered the test. Harrison, Anderson and his remaining men, MacReady, Childs, Alvarez, and Georgiou all tested negative and were allowed to keep hold of their weapons.

The next person to go was Willie Harper who once again had his wounded thumb reopened and was rewarded with a pistol for his recurring trouble. Doyle Killian came up negative and was handed a pistol as was Max Righetti and Thomas Sterling. Each of the armed men had the ammo evenly distributed between them.

"Too bad we don't have any flamethrowers," said Righetti.

"They came in real handy," said Childs.

"You know you were in violation of the National Science Foundation and the USAP's rules by having those," said Sterling to Childs with a smile.

"Sue me," said Childs with a friendly laugh.

"At least we have Molotov Cocktails," said Kelly Larkin who along with a few others had prepped the remaining bottles of alcohol with rags. She sat down and soon tested negative.

"Next?" asked Dr. Morgan, who along with Mayerling, was administering the tests.

"Me!" said Robinson who sat down, "I hate needles but I don't want any of you thinking you need to shoot me!"

This time Brady Robinson didn't faint, he did turn a little pale but he appeared to be getting over his fear of blood. Amazing what dealing with a murderous alien could do to one's mind.

Sparky Reynolds was the next to receive a clean bill of health and he was followed to the chair by Dr. Donaldson who was in turn followed by a reluctant Marvin Schultz.

"This shit just keeps getting weirder and weirder," said the man who had almost completely overcame his distraught state.

"Alright Marvin just roll up your sleeve," said Marcus Hardy, "The quicker you're done, the quicker I can get cleared."

MacReady nudged Childs.

"What is it Mac?" asked Childs.

"We're almost through and so far everyone is clean."

"I know, which means we might all be safe," said Childs, "Or its one of these."

"It one of them," said MacReady, "There's no way we're done with this."

As soon as Dr. Morgan touched the scalpel to Schultz's finger and drew a small cut across it, Schultz looked at him and opened his mouth.

Dr. Morgan didn't have time to react as a stream of acidic fluid sprayed out of Schultz's mouth and hit his face. He reeled back and put his hands to his scalded face and screamed. He fell to the floor and rolled away.

The Schultz-Thing jumped up from the chair, breaking free from its bonds, and reached the ceiling. It's neck instantly elongated as it took fire from several weapons.

The lights went out and pandemonium erupted . Sam Egan rushed forward and hurtled a Molotov cocktail up at the creature. It howled in pain and came crashing down to the floor where it took more gunfire. It raised its monstrous head and roared in rage.

"Fuck this!" came a loud voice as a figure stepped forward with an axe and cleaved the head off of the beast. The creature's head flew to the floor and its body slumped.

Through the light of the flames Harrison could make out the smiling face of Shane 'Sparky' Reynolds. The kid had grabbed a fire axe from the wall right by the door to the Mess Hall.

"Good work Sparky!" congratulated Harrison to the smiling mechanic.

"Get the lights on now!" yelled Anderson.

As soon as the Schultz-Thing had attacked the unfortunate Dr. Morgan, its other two incarnations had acted: one had turned out the lights by damaging the Mess Hall's fuse box and grabbed onto one of the tested people who's weapon had jammed, and had quickly worked to take it over. It barely had enough time to complete its work before the survivors had finished off the Schultz-Thing. The other incarnation had purposely thrown a firebomb at the Schultz-Thing in order to take attention away from it. The Things had lost one of their own but had gained another and their number now stood at four: the three in the Mess Hall and the other that had shed its guise of Professor Gordon Howell and had taken to somewhere else in the building.

"The lights aren't coming back on!" said Callum, "The fuse box must've blown!"

Dr. Jonathan Mayerling knelt beside the now still body of Dr. Alex Morgan and used his cell phone as a flashlight. He saw that Morgan's face was horribly disfigured. Apprehensively he checked for a pulse…nothing. He debated trying to revive his fellow doctor but thought better of it. Given what they were dealing with who could blame him?

Bryce Georgiou cautiously peered at the flaming body of the beast and made the mistake of getting standing directly under the open grate of the air duct.

What happened next happened so suddenly that no one could react quickly enough. The Thing that had once been in the guise of Professor Howell had reached down, latched onto Georgiou, and dragged him up into the air duct. The doomed man had dropped his shotgun as soon as the Thing's tendrils had lifted him up. His weapon clattered to the floor.

"Motherfucker!" yelled MacReady who emptied fired at the ceiling. The beast took a couple of hits but was able to make get away away from the gunfire.

"Did you fucking see that?" said Willie Harper, "It got Bryce!"

"Everyone stay calm," said Anderson, "We all need to get out of here now!"

"The Command Center," said Harrison, "We can regroup there."

Brady Robinson walked to the fallen shotgun, and looking nervously up at the open grate, picked up the weapon.

The remaining survivors and the three incarnations of the Thing followed Harrison to the Command Center.

**The Command Center, 0450 Hours-**

The remaining 14 survivors and the 3 incarnations of the Things stood around the large table in the Station's command center and kept alert for any sign of danger. If apprehension and terror were tangible things, they could have been cut with a knife.

Steven Harrison looked at what was left of the crew and agents and raged inside. Eight of his people along with three of the agents were dead. They were virtually cut off from the outside world. The weather was too bad to attempt an escape, the helicopters were destroyed, and at least one of the creatures was still inside the main complex with them.

Kelly Larkin no longer felt scared; she actually felt calm which was odd. Perhaps she was becoming resigned to the fact that she and everyone else at the station were going to die. The 34 year old had volunteered for this assignment in Antarctica for a chance at doing important research in an exciting place. This reason was coupled with the fact that she had just gotten out of a long term relationship with a fellow scientist who, after three years together, had confessed (after being confronted by Kelly with eyewitness reports) that he was seeing someone else on the side. He said it was just a fling with one of his students and that it was meaningless, but Kelly didn't see it that way. She had loved him and was devastated that he had betrayed her. In taking this job at the bottom of the world, she had hoped that she could get her ex off her mind, unfortunately being in a life or death situation was not what she had in mind when it came to things keeping her from thinking of her ex.

"Thinking of something Kelly?" asked Professor Sterling.

She looked at the kindly-looking climatologist, smiled, and said, "I just found myself thinking of my ex again…weird isn't it?"

Sterling laughed, "Funny what we think of when were under stress. I should be thinking of trying to get out of here…or about my wife but instead I just found myself thinking about fishing."

Kelly and Sterling both laughed which attracted the attention of Agent O'Rourke.

"I'm glad someone thinks this is funny," said the agent coldly.

"Lighten up O'Rourke," said Alvarez, "If you can't laugh in a situation like this then you've already given up."

Harrison spoke, "Alright, now that we're all here we need to make the next move."

"Which is?" asked Professor Hardy.

"Some of us still haven't been tested so we'll get back to that. Afterward we're going to follow through with the original plan."

"Sounds good to me Harrison," said Anderson.

The station commander looked at the lead agent and, despite the fact that he didn't like the man, felt that he would do everything he could to ensure that the remaining crew made it safely out alive of not just the station but from military custody as well.

Anderson had been constantly appraising Steven Harrison since he had arrived and he determined that he was a calm and professional man who would place the concerns of his crew over his own. This was a man that would insist on his people getting out alive before him. Anderson had to admit it: he respected Steven Harrison.

"I haven't been tested yet," said Professor Hardy, "Neither has Sam or Jen."

"Yeah seriously," said Sam Egan, "We feel like we're missing out!"

The survivors laughed.

"Here's a scalpel," said Mayerling who had Neil Alvarez sterilize it with his lighter and handed the implement to the professor.

"Thanks," said Hardy who cut his finger. He squeezed a few drops onto the table then watched as Alvarez touched the flame from his lighter to it. There was no reaction.

"You have a clean bill of health Professor," said Alvarez to the relieved engineer.

"Mr. Egan or Ms. Fielder next," said Anderson.

Sam nudged Jen, "Ladies first!"

"How chivalrous of you," said the pilot who grabbed the knife, cleaned it of blood, and had Alvarez re-sterilize it. She then slit a finger and squeezed a few drops of blood onto the table.

"You know guys I was thinking," said Brady Robinson, "There's no way this thing is a virus like some of you think. I mean its too smart."

"Then what the hell is it?" asked Doyle Killian.

"Its just doing its job," said Sam Egan.

Everyone turned to look at the cook who stood looking from face to face. Even Alvarez had paused from testing Fielder's blood to look at the cook.

"Trying to do _its _job?" said Sparky with confusion in his voice, "What's that supposta mean?"

"It isn't a virus…not really although it may act like one," Sam paused a moment and continued, "Think about it: What virus takes over the characteristics of its victims and makes conscious decisions?"

MacReady slowly lifted the barrel of the MP5-N until it pointed at Egan's torso.

Childs noticed MacReady's subtle movement and raised his weapon as well. He leaned to MacReady's ear, "It's the Thing, isn't it Mac?"

"Yeah," was all that the pilot said.

The two Outpost 31 survivors refrained from firing or telling anyone else of their suspicions. They decided to listen to what the Thing had to say.

"A virus doesn't make conscious decisions," said Dr. Donaldson who still clutched the butcher knife that he had taken from the Mess Hall.

"You're right Doc," said Egan, "But what if it was made? What if someone designed this and sent it here."

"Why?" asked the psychiatrist.

"For colonization purposes."

"That's science fiction bullshit," said Max Righetti who added, "But that's right, you do read that stuff."

"It was created by another race for the purpose of eliminating any higher life forms that could be a danger to colonists."

The group was beginning to get a little nervous. Something wasn't adding up. Sam Egan may be a sci-fi fan but something about his voice didn't sound right. It was his normal voice…but something just wasn't right about it.

"Get ready," MacReady said quietly to Childs. Childs picked up a firebomb that he had brought along and prepared to light it.

"The organism would be brought to a planet that was deemed safe for colonization and would be sent down to begin its work. It would attack and take over any higher lifeform and replicate and spread. While it was doing this its progress would be monitored by the crew of the ship that had brought it. The ship would orbit for about five years."

"And then what Sam," asked Harrison who had his hand on the gun at his waist.

"After the approximate five years, the organism would automatically die. Every part of it is the same as the original organism. Its genetically programmed to spread, assimilate, and then die at once. Once it was dead the ship would set down and then the crew would inform the homeworld which would then allow for colonization."

"But the ship didn't stay in orbit did it?"

"No it didn't. It crashed landed and the organism was freed from its controlled environment. It took over the crew and discovered from their memories that the ship had been hit by an orbiting asteroid. It crashed landed on this continent where it was frozen. Its five year lifespan was suspended and it lay dormant…until it was discovered and freed by the crew of Viking base. The first to be assimilated was the base's supply man who had been left alone with it.

Anderson saw that Callum and O'Rourke were getting ready to fire but he stayed them with a wave of a hand.

"Then it killed everyone except a pilot and the guy with the gun," said MacReady, "It took over a dog."

"Yes MacReady, it had. The dog was taken in by your station and Clark put it with the other dogs."

"Then it was burned," added Childs.

"Yes but a part of it escaped and killed off your crew," Egan paused and smiled at the others who stood still in shock as they realized that they were listening to the very creature that was responsible for the carnage at three stations.

"Madre de Dios," said Alvarez. He wanted to blast the Thing but he didn't. He, like the rest, was too enthralled by the Thing and its story.

"It managed to survive the destruction of Outpost 31 in the form of Barry Nauls," said the Egan-Thing, "Then it came here and continued, "I will do what I am meant to do even though there will be no colonization."

"There's no point!" said Kelly in a frightened voice.

"Then you'll try to escape and continue on," said Donaldson who was struggling to steady himself. He was shaking badly.

"Yes…it is what I am meant to do. You will all die…but how is up to you. Allow yourselves to be killed and you will be spared the horror…except for MacReady and Childs. I will make their deaths painful beyond imagining."

Wrongly thinking no one was paying it any attention, the incarnation in Jen Fielder slowly allowed its fingers to lengthen. Its mouth slowly opened and it turned its head toward Neil Alvarez.

MacReady looked at the Egan-Thing and in a calm voice said, "Not gonna happen," then he turned and shot Jen Fielder in the head.


	10. Chapter 10: The Last Men

Chapter 10: The Last Men

_"Fear makes us feel our humanity,"-Benjamin Disraeli_

**The Command Center, 0503 Hours-**

The report of the MP5-N's single blast took everyone but Childs by surprise. Neil Alvarez jumped back, tripped, and fell to the floor, causing him to lose the grip on his shotgun. Even the Egan-Thing cocked its head in amazement as it watched its Jen Fielder incarnation take a bullet to the head.

The gunshot then set off a series of events:

As soon as MacReady fired he clicked the weapon from semi to automatic automatic and took a bead on the Egan-Thing.

"JEN!" screamed Doyle Killian as he watched his friend and flying partner take a bullet from MacReady. In his fury he turned and pointed his 9mm at MacReady, mistakenly thinking that he was somehow the Thing, and in one move clicked the pistol to fire and shot him.

The Egan-Thing reacted to the gunfire in amazement. It had been expecting to take gunfire from the humans instead of its fellow incarnation. The Fielder-Thing had been about to strike the distracted crew but had apparently been noticed by MacReady. Almost immediately it saw MacReady go down from gunfire. Now everyone's attention was off of it…almost everyone.

Gerald Anderson had never taken his eyes off of Sam Egan. He tuned out the gunfire and instead kept his focus on the cook. He watched as the cook looked away to the right and that's when he fired a hollow point 9mm round at Egan's head.

The Egan-Thing took a round into its head which caused it to react immediately by convulsing and jumping onto the wall behind it. It took additional rounds and then opened its now deformed mouth and sent a jet of acidic fluid at the lead agent.

The burning liquid hit Anderson's left hand making him lose the grip on his pistol. The weapon clattered to the floor as he jumped back and went behind Agent O'Rourke who had opened up on the Thing with his submachine gun.

The Thing jumped from the wall and pounced upon Max Righetti who had been attempting to reload his pistol. Its mouth opened and from it came a stream of tendrils that shot into the unfortunate man's nostrils and mouth while at the same time its hand's melted into claws that raked into the radio operator's flesh.

Brady Anderson pointed the shotgun, that had previously belonged to Georgiou, at the Egan-Thing as soon as it had landed on Righetti. He pumped the Mossberg and fired a round.

The blast hit the side of the Thing. It then turned its attention to the young man who had inflicted the shot.

Robinson pumped the shotgun once more and pulled the trigger. Click. The empty sound of an unloaded weapon gave the young man a sickening feeling in his stomach. The weapon slipped from his fingers and he stood frozen in fright as the Thing's head came at him from its telescoping neck. "Oh shi-," was all he could say before its jaws clamped down on his throat.

Doyle Killian took three bullets to his abdomen from Childs, who had quickly put the firebomb he was holding down on the table and shot Killian for shooting MacReady. He doubled over, went to his knees, and fell to his side where his life bled out of him.

Marcus Hardy grabbed Child's firebomb, lit it, and threw it at the Thing that had just torn out Brady Robinson's throat. The creature caught fire and it charged at the nearest person it could find.

The burning creature slammed into Jonathan Mayerling and knocked the USAMRIID scientist into the far wall. His head hit a metal shelf which cracked his skull open. The dying man fell face first to the floor, his body smothering the flames that had taken hold of his heavy jacket. He died within thirty seconds.

The Thing roared as another firebomb hit it. It reared up and then its body split into two with a sickening wet noise.

As soon as Willie Harper had thrown the second firebomb the creature stood up and split down the middle like a piece of firewood. The mechanic watched in amazement as the two sides separated to reveal a backbone and rib cage that vibrated with fury. Its ribs elongated and shot into the ceiling.

On the floor Neil Alvarez reached for his shotgun and found himself face to face with Jen Fielder, "Sonofabitch!" he said as Fielder's mouth opened and sprayed him with acidic liquid. The liquid hit his chest and he felt an instant burning sensation as it ate through his clothing and skin. He screamed in agony and tried to move away but felt the Fielder-Thing's talon-like claws rip into his legs and pull him closer. He screamed in pain but managed to reach out and grab his shotgun. He pumped it and fired into the Thing's head at point blank range.

The head of the Fielder-Thing disappeared in a reddish mist as the buckshot obliterated its mutated cranium. Its headless body hit the floor where it squirmed and writhed in fury.

Harrison saw the Fielder-Thing's sudden transformation and responded by throwing a Molotov Cocktail at it. The creature turned into a living torch and now there were two burning beasts in the room. "Everyone out!"

Harrison didn't have to repeat his order; everyone made a break for the exits. The Fielder-Thing had jumped up and ran after the first three people to leave and was cut down by repeated gunfire from Childs and O'Rourke. Hardy threw another firebomb and the Thing went to the floor and laid still.

The Egan-Thing had attempted to bust into the ceiling but was cut in half by Sparky Reynolds who chopped it with the fire axe. Its body fell to the floor and took a shotgun round from Alvarez who was being helped up by Sterling and Larkin. The room emptied out and soon the survivors found themselves split into three groups.

In the Command Center the remains of the Egan and Fielder-Things burned and went still, the life in them fading away into nothing.

Elsewhere in the main complex the Thing that had once been Professor Gordon Howell waited patiently for its chance.

**The Infirmary, 0508 Hours-**

Childs kicked the infirmary door open and rushed into the room, swinging his MP5 left to right, "Its clear!"

Reynolds and Larkin came in with a bleeding MacReady being propped between them. The wounded pilot still had enough strength to keep walking thus negating too much pressure upon his two helpers.

Harrison was the last man in the room, "Childs guard the door while we tend to MacReady."

"Got it," answered Childs who took up his position.

"We don't have much time Steven," said Kelly Larkin, "The fire is bound to spread."

"Good," said the station commander, "Then maybe we can burn that fucking other thing in the ceiling."

Sparky looked up nervously at the ceiling and the open air duct grate and clutched his fire axe harder.

MacReady leaned back on the gurney and grimaced in pain.

Harrison tore open MacReady's jacket and cut into his underclothes with a pair of surgical scissors. He looked at the wound and said, "I've got good news and bad news."

"What's the bad news," answered MacReady.

"You've been hit in the ribcage but the shot wasn't accurate. From the looks of it the bullet hit and traveled against your ribcage and tore away a chunk of flesh and exited your jacket…You'll live."

"What the hell is the good news then?"

"You'll get another chance to kill the Thing."

"Grab me that bottle from my right pocket."

Harrison obliged and handed MacReady the J&B Whiskey bottle. He watched as the pilot opened it and took a drink and then closed and handed the bottle back to Harrison. Harrison replaced the bottle in MacReady's jacket pocket and said, "Kelly let's patch him up."

**The Main Entrance, 0511 Hours-**

Anderson and his group stopped at the building's main entrance and paused. He turned around and looked at the four others that were with him. Callum had covered their rear and now came to stand alongside Hardy and Sterling who held a severely wounded Neil Alvarez between them.

"Will he make it?" asked Anderson to Sterling. Anderson's hand burned with pain from the acid but it didn't stop him from thinking clearly.

"His wounds are severe, I don't think-" trailed off Sterling.

"Sterling, give me your weapon."

Sterling handed over the pistol and remaining magazine and looked at Alvarez's face. He saw pain in the man's eyes.

Alvarez answered Anderson's question, "This is it for me…I think I lost too much blood."

Anderson looked at the dying Navy Veteran and saw that the man's chest and lower neck appeared to have suffered serious burns in addition to his mangled legs.

"We can't just leave him here," said Hardy who correctly deduced that Anderson had no intention of taking Alvarez any farther.

"Hell yes we can," said Callum.

"Bastard!" retorted Hardy who took Alvarez's shotgun and remaining rounds.

"Go ahead and stay with him then professor!"

"Both of you shut up!" said Anderson who looked to Sterling and Alvarez, "There's nothing we can do for him. If we want to make it to the radio and the vehicles and get away then we'll have to leave him."

Sterling and Hardy looked at eachother for a moment and then to Alvarez. The wounded man looked up at them with a look of confirmation. He gave a slight nod, "Get out of here."

With sadness Hardy and Sterling left their wounded friend propped against the wall. Then they and the two agents went into the icy morning darkness.

**Hut 1, 0515 Hours-**

"OK why the hell are we here?" asked O'Rourke.

"Because," said Harper, "In here are extra medical supplies including oxygen cylinders."

"You want to take them into the main complex and explode them," said O'Rourke who had correctly guessed the mechanic's idea.

"You're quick secret agent man."

"Why the hell are we going to do that?" asked Donaldson who had replaced his butcher knife with the pistol that he had taken from Killian after the pilot had been shot, "I thought we were going to ride out of here!"

"Reality check Doc," said Harper, "We have three snowplows. Each can hold two people inside which means six can get away except that one of those snowplows needs a new alternator which means that only four can get out of here."

"So put one in!"

"I would but the resupply plane with the alternator is due in two weeks," said Harper with a grim smile, "Care to wait around?"

"We're going to have to get to the snowplows before the others then!"

"No," said Harper sternly, "If we do that then not everyone lives but if we can kill the Thing in the main complex then maybe we can have O'Rourke and his boss call off the planes," Harper looked to the agent, "Think you can make that work?"

O'Rourke knew that the odds were against them but he wasn't one to turn away from a fight. If they did kill the Thing then there was a chance that the bombing run could be called off. He felt it was worth it, "We just might. By the way Mister Mechanic, how the hell are we going to get the oxygen tanks over to the main building?"

Harper smiled.

**The Air Ducts, 0520 Hours-**

The Thing that had once been in the guise of Professor Howell , crawled along the air ducts and searched for any remaining crewmembers. The beast had grown in size and was now struggling to keep itself inside of the narrow confines of the air system. It moved along sluggishly and strained against the aluminum that encapsulated it. It couldn't sense any of its remaining incarnations. It knew that the incarnations in the station's cook and female pilot had been killed off but the remaining incarnation may have escaped when the station commander had ordered everyone to leave. That meant that a part of it had a chance to escape this frozen continent and reach the mainland. Despite the certainty that its makers on their far away planet had long ago ceased to exist it still felt the primal urge to continue it's mission.

It had learned so much since it had taken its first victim shortly after the crash of the ship it had traveled on. It knew what it was meant to do and there was no fighting it. Its knowledge had increased after it had thawed out and began to absorb the characteristics and intelligence of first the Norwegians and then the Americans. It contained all of their individual knowledge inside of it at a cellular level. It had ran through each human's mind and had found a wealth of information about the world it had been brought to.

It knew that the human race would have presented a formidable obstacle to its makers' colonization if they had chosen to come now in a direct manner…that was if they even existed after all of the intervening eons. The Thing too recognized how formidable the humans were. They had battled it relentlessly since it had resurrected at Viking Base and then at Outpost 31 and now here too at Ellsworth Station. It realized that its own incarnation would more than likely perish from here, either from the fire that was spreading from the command center or by the intervention of the human's military. The only hope it had was that its remaining incarnation could make it to civilization.

The Thing felt that there was a good chance of this. The individual it had consumed and replicated had already been tested. It was smart enough to reach out to him in the darkness and take him while he was reloading. Soon, it felt, the incarnation could escape and travel to the mainland and continue to spread. Even if its makers race had long ago forgotten it or had died it was commanded by its genetic program to carry out its mission despite the fact that no colonists were coming. It was made for a purpose and it would fulfill that purpose no matter what…provided the other incarnation could escape.

**Hut 3, 0525 Hours-**

Tim Donaldson opened the bay door of Hut 3 and watched as Harper and O'Rourke rode out on a Gator utility vehicle. The two man vehicle was made by John Deere and had been specially modified to deal with Antarctic conditions. The green and yellow 50 HP vehicle had a maximum speed of 44MPH which was currently limited to 35 due to the snow and ice.

Harper stopped next to Donaldson, "Need a lift?"

The psychiatrist smiled and jumped into the back where there were four oxygen cylinders and a box of stick flares, "Let's do this before I change my mind."

Harper and O'Rourke laughed and the Gator and its three passengers headed back to the Main Complex.

**The Main Complex, 0525 Hours-**

While Harper, O'Rourke, and Donaldson were busy getting the Gator loaded, MacReady and his group made their way to the building's main entrance. There they found Neil Alvarez. The man was barely alive and managed tell them that Anderson and three others had left him there on his own accord so they could make it to the snowplows.

"They're goin-going t-to try and make… it out," Alvarez paused and gurgled on blood, "The-they might…be able t-to radio the planes."

Harrison watched as the dying man struggled to talk, "We could…" he wanted to say that they could try and patch him up but he knew the reality of the situation as did Alvarez: there was nothing they could do to save the supply specialist. He had lost too much blood from his wounds.

Alvarez could tell what Harrison was thinking from the look in his eyes. He smiled weakly and said, "Some of you…will make it outta here."

Kelly Larkin felt tears well up in her eyes as Neil Alvarez closed his eyes and gave out one last sigh before he passed away. She had liked the gruff Navy veteran. He normally wore a serious expression on his face but away from duty he was a good natured man with a jovial streak. Alvarez often talked about his wife, three children, and three grandchildren. The thought that he left behind a family sickened her. So many had died in the past few days and still none of them were safe.

Harrison looked at Alvarez's lifeless body and felt anger surge through him. He had lost most of his crew and the rest were still in danger. He had never lost this amount of people in all of his years of service. He had lost too many good people here and he knew that he would more than likely join them. He made the decision that he would do everything he could to kill the Thing even if it meant that he wouldn't make it.

He stood and looked at the survivors, "Let's get to the snowplows and get some of you on your way."

**Hut 10, 0530 Hours-**

As soon as the group had left the Main Complex they went straight for the hangar and to the radio inside the helicopter. Anderson and Callum made a hurried call to higher and was granted an extension of thirty minutes. Once the thirty minutes had been reached however, the station would be destroyed.

As soon as Anderson finished talking he left the helicopter and failed to notice Callum who proceeded to smash device with the butt of his submachine gun.

Inside Hut 10 were three snowplows. Two were fully operational but the third was down for maintenance.

"Now we can the hell out of here," said Callum.

"Right, higher is giving us until 0615 to get out otherwise were all dead," said Anderson.

"They're giving us a chance?" asked Professor Sterling.

"Against my Superior's guidance…yes. I managed to get us a little extra time. That can give anyone else who's still alive a chance to get away on foot.

"They might not make it on foot!," pleaded Marcus Hardy.

"One of these is down for repairs," said Anderson who ignored Hardy and looked at one of the big snowplows.

"Doesn't matter," said Sterling, "They fit two."

"We shouldn't be leaving all of these witnesses sir," said Callum, "It goes against the original plan…besides higher may not like it.

The three others turned and looked at the agent and it was Anderson who spoke, "I'm changing the plan."

"Still too many people to talk…what if this gets out? We can't have the news getting a hold of this sir, imagine the panic."

"Screw that, we're getting out of here."

Callum sighed: too many civilian witnesses was not a good thing. He raised his MP5 and opened fire.

**Outside, 0530 Hours-**

MacReady's group stopped as they heard the sound of a vehicle approaching. The wind had died down and it was now possible to make out much of the camp in the darkness. The vehicle pulled up and the lights of the other buildings illuminated a figure who spoke to them.

"We're going to blow up the main complex," said O'Rourke matter-of-factly.

"Have you seen the others?" asked MacReady in a wheezy voice.

"Nope."

"They headed for the snowplows," interjected Harrison, "Come with us."

"But what about the Thing?" asked Harper.

"We'll kill it once we get enough of us to safety.

**Hut 10, 0531 Hours-**

Anderson had next to nothing in the terms of time to react to Callum. He took a bullet in his upper thigh and another in his abdomen. He fell to the floor and lost the grip of his weapon. It hit the floor and skidded away from him.

Callum turned from Anderson and shot Professor Hardy in the chest just as the man has pumped the shotgun to ready a round. Bullets tore into the engineering professor and his body jerked spasmodically. He swung to his right and fell face first to the floor. The shotgun's impact on the floor caused the weapon to fire off its round which blasted into a wooden crate.

Callum's magazine went dry and instead of reloading he jumped at the shocked Sterling and clamped his left hand around the professor's throat.

Thomas Sterling struggled to break free of the agent's grip but the man squeezed harder and harder. He brought his hands up to the agent's face and managed to hit his nose, drawing blood.

Callum felt the blow hit his nose and he immediately released his grip from the climatologist who fell onto his back.

"Nice try professor," Callum said as he reloaded his MP5, "But all for naught."

"Wh-why?" asked Thomas Sterling as Callum aimed the barrel of his weapon at him.

"Why?" asked the agent, "Professionally speaking professor; in this line of work civilian witnesses are a bad thing…besides I have a mission to accomplish."

Anderson rolled over in time to watch as Callum fired a burst into Professor Sterling, killing the main instantly. He reached for his pistol, grabbed it, and fired.

Callum saw movement out of the corner of his eye and barely had enough time to react. He moved to the side and felt a bullet graze his face. The 9mm round cut a swath through his left cheek and tore a chunk off of his ear before it slammed into a crate of spare parts.

Callum fired and hit Anderson in the arm, causing the senior agent to let go of his pistol and cradle his hand with his other wounded hand.

"Callum what the fuck do you think you're doing!" Anderson said through gritted teeth.

"Callum's not doing anything Agent Anderson…I'm doing this and I am going to leave here."

Anderson's eyes widened in horror as the realization that what stood before him wasn't Agent Callum at all, "When?" he asked.

"When the lights went out. Callum backed away to reload and he was taken and replicated. I almost didn't have enough time to make the transformation," said the Callum-Thing.

"The Air Force is going to blow this place up!"

"I know and that only serves to help me. The bomb will obliterate this place and kill everyone who knows what happened here," the Callum-Thing paused and smiled, "There will be one survivor of course. There will be no need to quarantine me because I will tell them what I want them to hear…that the alien was destroyed. Then I will go along continuing my mission."

"You'll kill everyone on Earth and then you'll die!" Anderson said trying to drive home the fact that the Thing would die as well.

"Its what I was meant to do," it said, "There's no escaping my destiny…you're lucky Agent Anderson, I don't have the time to take you over. I have a plane to beat."

The Callum-Thing then shot up the dashboard and controls of one of the two snowplows and then opened fire and killed Gerald Anderson.

As soon as Anderson had been killed Darren Childs burst into the hut and quickly took in the scene. Agent Callum had just killed Anderson as well as Professors Hardy and Sterling.

"ITS CALLUM!" Childs yelled and opened fire on the agent.

Bullets ripped into the Callum-Thing and it lost its grip on the MP5. It screamed in rage as its escape plan quickly fell apart. It needed a new host fast. Snarling with a forming canine mouth it charged the new arrivals.

MacReady, Childs, O'Rourke, and Anderson stood side by side as they unloaded their rounds at the charging figure that wore the guise of Agent Callum. Harrison's .45 rounds took the creature in the kneecap and it felt to the ground.

Kelly Larkin grabbed a bottle of Southern Comfort rum and a lighter from Sparky Reynolds, lit it, and ran forward. She hurtled the last firebomb at the Thing and it, along with some nearby crates, instantly went up in flames.

Harrison's .45 went dry and its slide locked back. He was completely out of ammunition. He saw Harper stop to reload and watched as O'Rourke tossed a magazine to Childs who too had ran out of ammo.

As soon as O'Rourke tossed his second to last magazine to Childs he made a beeline to the creature's side and opened fire.

The Thing raised itself off of the floor, elongated its legs and jumped at its assailants. The people scattered away from it.

Sparky Reynolds summoned up enough bravery to move in and take a swing at the Thing with his axe; he wasn't fast enough however. The creature swung a malformed and elongated arm at him and knocked him away.

Sparky felt ribs break and he let go of his axe. He came down hard onto the floor and skidded to a halt next to an oxy-acetylene blowtorch.

MacReady followed the young man's progress as he was knocked away and came to rest next to a blowtorch that was hooked up to a dolly for easy movement. An idea formed in his mind. "GET OUTSIDE!"

Harrison saw MacReady move to the blowtorch and get Reynolds to his feet; then it dawned on him what the man was going to do, "LET'S GO!"

O'Rourke emptied his magazine into the Thing causing it to fall to the floor where it began to gyrate. He turned to run outside with the others.

MacReady and a limping Reynolds wheeled the blowtorch as close to the spasmodic Thing as he could without being killed. MacReady grabbed Sparky's axe off the floor and knocked opened the valves of the two cylinders' and then he and Sparky left the blowtorch and its cylinders and made their way toward the hut's rear door. Before he reached the door he turned and saw that the Thing's back had split open. From its back came two large hands that reached upward to the ceiling. MacReady remembered that this was how it had escaped the dog kennel back at Outpost 31. It was attempting to get away.

MacReady looked to Reynolds, "Get outside!"

"The snowplow!" screamed Reynolds, "I can drive it!"

"What about the keys!"

"Forget em!" said the boy who grinned through the pain of his broken ribs, "I can hot-wire it! Harper taught me!"

MacReady grinned and turned his attention to the Thing. It wasn't paying him the least bit of attention. It was too preoccupied with trying to get away.

The sound of the snowplow's engine grabbed MacReady's attention. The kid had come through. Now it was time to get the hell out of the building…or almost time; MacReady fired a burst into the Thing and it fell from the ceiling. It stood and bellowed in rage. MacReady fired again and the weapon went dry.

"Damn!" he cursed. He threw the weapon at the Thing and ran. As he went past the fallen Anderson something caught his eye: Anderson' pistol. He picked it up and followed the snowplow. Reynolds had hopped off and pressed a button that opened the rear bay door and was now back inside the vehicle. MacReady jumped on and looked back. The Thing had managed to smother the flames on its body by rolling around and was now standing up. It stood among the flames that continued to burn the nearby crates. The grotesque figure stood far taller than a human. Its blackened skin bubbled and it turned to exit the front of the hut.

A split second later the flames of the burning crates met the pure oxygen and acetylene from the cylinders and ignited causing jets of flames to arc back into the cylinders where they created a violent explosion.

**Outside Hut 10, 0537 Hours-**

The blast from the exploding cylinders blew the front section off the Hut. Hut 3 was larger that most of the other huts so the entire structure wasn't completely leveled but the blast was enough to destroy the Thing. The force of the blast also sent Harrison and the others to the frozen ground.

"Holy Shit," whispered Donaldson who thanked God that the Gator had been right next to the hut. He and Harper had jumped on and managed to get the vehicle away from being blown up, "Let's get back to the others," he said to Willie Harper.

Harper wheeled the vehicle around and took it to the remaining survivors who were now getting on their feet.

"Think they made it?" asked Larkin with apprehension in her voice.

Childs looked to the geophysicist and smiled, "It'll take a lot more than that to get Mac."

As if by magic the sound of a snowplow engine cut through the roaring of the flames. The group watched as a smoking and blackened snowplow made its way toward them.

The vehicle came to a stop next to them and a smiling MacReady hopped out.

**Viking Base, 78 Degrees, 21 Minutes, 54 Seconds South: 167 Degrees, 33 Minutes, 12 Seconds East, 0540 Hours-**

As the fact had been noted that the Norwegian Base had been abandoned, the CIA made the decision to destroy it ahead of schedule. The MC-130H Combat Talon II was the latest variant in a long line of C-130s that stemmed back to the 1950s. The plane traveled with two pilots and three loadmasters onboard. The aircraft normally carried a single loadmaster but this was a special case. It carried one GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb or MOAB. This was more commonly known as 'The Mother of all Bombs' by the press. The 30 foot long, 22,600 pound weapon contained 18,700 pounds of H6 explosive that would give it a punch equivalent to 11 tons of TNT. Its explosive force was enough to level a radius of 9 city blocks. Its shockwave and the accompanying pressure would be more than enough to completely destroy the entire base as well as any organisms that may still be living in it.

The plane's cargo ramp opened up and the loadmasters released the bomb. The GBU fell out of the MC-130H, its descent slowed by a parachute which didn't deter it from following its course as it was being guided by Global Positioning System satellites. A two-man Delta Force team was situated a mile and a half from the deserted base. The two men watched as the GBU fell toward its target and detonated 300 feet above the camp.

As the small mushroom cloud rose into the sky the team notified their superiors of the bombing mission's success which was also witnessed by a NSA Satellite and an Air Force Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.

Moments later a joint US/Norwegian team headed toward the bomb site to make further assessments.

**Outpost 31, 77 Degrees, 50 Minutes, 03 Seconds South: 167 Degrees 49 Minutes, 45 Seconds East, 0542 Hours-**

Just as Viking Base was being destroyed, the second of three MC-130Hs dropped its payload onto its target.

The bomb's parachute unfurled and opened up, causing the bomb to slow. It drifted down over its target and detonated at 300 feet.

The pressure blast devastated what was left of Outpost 31 and was witnessed by the same NSA satellite that had just shifted its attention away from the Viking blast site.

At the same time a third MC-130H received word to hold in place 15 miles from Ellsworth Station. The plane had half a tank of fuel and was more than capable of holding out longer before it could join the KC-135 supertanker refueling aircraft.

The UAV was directed to fly toward Ellsworth Station where it would check to see if anyone was still alive.

**The Hangar, 0543 Hours-**

"We are now officially fucked," said O'Rourke as he saw the damage to the radio.

"You mean we weren't fucked enough already?" said MacReady in amazement.

"We're not fucked until I say we're fucked," said the agent, "We're fucked."

"We can't call off the plane," said Harrison, "We had until an hour after the weather broke and it looks like it broke."

"Now what?" said Kelly Larkin with despair in her voice.

"We'll never make it on foot," said Childs.

"True," said Harrison who looked at Kelly Larkin and Shane Reynolds, "But two of us can get away in the snowplow."

Larkin and Reynolds saw Harrison look at him and soon everyone else was gazing at them, "Us?" they said simultaneously.

Five minutes later Kelly Larkin and Shane Reynolds climbed into the snowplow and readied to leave, having previously said they're goodbyes to the others.

"Hold on a sec," said MacReady who looked at Reynolds, "Why do they call you Sparky?"

The young man was taken aback by the question. With everything that had been going on in the past day he hadn't expected anyone to ask a question like that.

The young mechanic looked at the disheveled MacReady who stood there with his sombrero like hat and smiled, "I got zapped by electricity when I first got here. I was working on a generator and I goofed. It was an accident but it wasn't bad...but it sure made my hair stand on end!" he laughed and went on, "The guys nicknamed me Sparky and it stuck!"

MacReady laughed at the goofy expression that the young man wore on his worn-out looking face and soon the others joined him. Moments later they watched as the snowplow and its two passengers drove off in the direction of McMurdo. Then as one the last men turned and went toward the Main Complex.


	11. Chapter 11: Face to Face

Chapter 11: Face to Face

_"Action conquers fear,"-Peter Nivio_

** The Main Complex, 0548 Hours-**

The six survivors entered the main complex and were immediately assailed by a faint smell of smoke.

"The fire hasn't spread this way yet," said Harrison to the others. He then looked down and saw the body of Neil Alvarez. He shut his eyes and then looked to the others, "Everyone good with this?"

Everyone nodded in confirmation. They had discussed their plan and the consequences that went with it. They realized that they had very little time left before the Air Force destroyed the site and the odds were against them that they'd make it out alive. They could have attempted to make it out on foot. If people could travel across Antarctica by foot and sled then why couldn't they make it out of the blast radius on foot? The weather had calmed but instead they had chosen to stay.

Call it foolishness, call it bravado, call it what you will. If a person asked them why they had stayed their reason was best summed up by R.J. MacReady: "We're doing this out of principle."

The men were staying behind to kill the Thing for what it had done to their fellow crewmembers. They wanted revenge on it as well as to make damn certain that it didn't somehow escape and freeze again only to be found and resurrected by anyone unfortunate enough who stumbled upon it. They weren't about to let the Thing get another chance to fulfill its mission. They wanted to personally make sure that it was finished. In their view the bomb and its effects weren't enough, they had to make absolutely certain that it died and then if, _if, _they had enough time they could chance running and beating the bomb.

"Well lets do this," said Childs who reached for one of the oxygen cylinders that they had rolled in. He was helped by Dr. Donaldson who lifted one end and followed Childs down a corridor. They were followed by Harrison and Harper who carried another cylinder between them. Harper ignored the pain in his bandaged thumb as he helped carry the cylinder. The men were under the watchful eyes of O'Rourke who led the way and MacReady who brought up the rear. The agent had one and a half magazines left for his submachine gun while Childs had only 10 rounds left in his.

In addition to the MP5s, Harrison had a 9mm that he grabbed in the command center, Donaldson, Harper, and MacReady each had one as well. There were a total of five pistol magazines between them although not all magazines were to full capacity.

The men made their way toward the Mess Hall, away from the Command Center and the fire that raged there. They aimed to place one cylinder in the center of the room and open its valves to spread the pure oxygen. From there they would double back the way they came, past the other three cylinders that they would place at varying points along the way. The last cylinder had been placed nearest the Command Center. As soon as they left the Mess Hall they would stop by each cylinder and open it and hope that by the time they had made their way to placing the last cylinder enough pure oxygen would be flowing to ensure that their detonation of the cylinder closest the Command Center would cause a chain reaction that would level the entire structure. As a precaution each man carried two stick flares in the case only one of them was left to ignite the oxygen.

**The Mess Hall, 0550 Hours-**

"Clear!" called O'Rourke to the others, letting them know that there were no visible threats inside the room.

The men entered the room, unconsciously avoiding looking at the bodies of the slain crewmembers, and placed the cylinder directly under the open air duct.

Harper looked up at the open duct and shuddered as he remembered Georgiou disappearing up into it.

"Lets hurry and get the hell out of here!" said Donaldson.

"Got an appointment with a client Doc?" asked MacReady sarcastically.

"If we even have the smallest chance of getting out of this alive then I don't want to waste any time!"

Harrison opened the valve and let forth a stream of oxygen, "Lets move."

**The Main Corridor, 0552 Hours-**

Childs finished loosening the second to last cylinder and looked at his watch. It was 5:52 a.m. Anderson had said that the plane was due an hour after the weather had cleared. The weather had been cleared for a while now and so far no bomb. With luck he and the others could use the extra time to make their way to safety. What happened after that was anybody's guess.

"Think Larkin and Sparky will have any trouble?" asked Harrison to O'Rourke as the group headed down toward the last cylinder. The heat of the flames was beginning to creep closer.

"They'll get stopped before they make it to McMurdo," said the agent, "There'll be UAVs and probably a satellite keeping an eye on everything here plus there should be people on the ground in a perimeter."

"Think they'll do anything to them?" asked Harper.

"They'll be taken into custody and screened," said O'Rourke, "Once they're declared free from any infections they'll be debriefed and then hopefully sworn to secrecy."

"Do they know how to screen them?" asked MacReady.

"Yes, Anderson and Morgan informed them…I heard Langley get the news."

"Think they'll…you know…kill them?" asked Donaldson.

"No."

"What makes you so sure O'Rourke?" asked Harrison who turned a corner and caught sight of the last cylinder.

"Trust me killing everyone is not always the best idea; that only raises more questions," the agent smiled, "Besides, we never killed all of the witnesses after they had seen a UFO crash."

"You've dealt with _that_ before?" asked MacReady.

O'Rourke winked, "That's why the agency has teams with people like me in them."

Donaldson walked ahead of the men and spun the cylinder's valve open, "Now lets get the hell out of here," _Maybe I can still get a book out of this somehow even if I have to write it under a pseudonym and label it as fiction to avoid being slammed by the government._

These were the last thoughts that the psychiatrist had. As soon as he finished thinking about his book possibilities that had morphed from a scholarly non-fiction work on abnormal psychology to a work of fiction, the ceiling above him burst open and he was enveloped by two halves of the Thing which then quickly closed on him like a pair of jaws, crushing him and knocking over the cylinder.

"This shit just couldn't be easy," MacReady groaned and then fired at the monstrosity.

O'Rouke and Childs opened up with the MP5s while Harper and Harrison backed off and grabbed their flares.

The creature let out a roar and then formed several images on its body, images that caused the men to cease fire and stare at the beast.

All of the men were amazed at the size the Thing had reached, with the exception of MacReady who had seen just how big the Thing was capable of becoming. Its body was a fleshy-looking brown that stretched 15 feet out of the ceiling while the rest of the tentacled mass was hidden by the remaining ceiling panels.

Now the survivors were face to face with the very horror that they had been indirectly facing.

The Thing looked out at the men and focused in on MacReady and Childs. It formed a face that they knew well.

"You will all die," said the image of Barry Nauls.

"Fuck me," said Harper.

Another face formed and spoke, "You will all die."

MacReady felt bile rise up in his throat as he saw something that looked just like Dr. Copper speak to him. He looked at the rest of the body and saw its flesh swirl to take on the visages of others that he knew: Palmer, Windows, Fuchs, and Dr. Blair formed and were joined by the rest of Outpost 31's ill-fated crew.

Childs wanted scream at the Thing and tell it to go and fuck itself but he held back and could only watch in disgusted horror as Norris and Bennings joined their fellow brethren.

Other faces formed along the beast: Faces belonging to the crew of Viking Base formed as did the faces of Ellsworth's people.

Harrison swore under his breath as he saw the faces of his men: Youzumi, Georgiou, Hale, and the others who had been taken by the Thing, even Fleiss was there.

One more face joined the procession of the dead: Doctor Timothy Donaldson.

The Thing's faces spoke to the five men in a single, booming voice, "Three of you will die quickly I promise, but MacReady and Childs will die in unbelievable anguish."

"Fuck you!" said MacReady and Childs in unison.

The Thing felt the flames nearing it and it knew that it had to take on the form of at least one of these men and escape. It zeroed in on the CIA agent. All it needed to do was take him up into the ceiling where it could replicate him, wear his clothes, and walk off.

Before it could strike the agent and Childs raised their weapons and opened fire.

**1.5 Miles Away, 0558 Hours-**

An explosion of ice erupted 50 meters in front of the snowplow. The blast caused Sparky Reynolds to slam on the breaks which caused him and Kelly Larkin to lurch forward.

"What the hell was that!" screamed Sparky.

"The military!" Kelly answered. She looked out the windshield and could see several ghostly shapes closing in on them.

Sparky watched as a group of white camouflaged men approached them. Each of the figures were armed and walked toward the ideling snowplow with their weapons raised.

The 8 man Delta Force team had been informed of the vehicle's egress from the station by a UAV and in turn the four two man teams had formed into one larger team to deal with the situation. They encircled the snowplow and ordered the two occupants to slowly come out and lay face first on the ice. Once the two had complied, they were zip cuffed and led away from the vehicle. Presently a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter, requisitioned from the Naval Amphibious Assault Ship USS Bonhomme Richard, landed and the 8 man team and the two survivors were loaded up and taken back to the ship and immediately put into isolation.

As the helicopter lifted off the remaining cordon of Delta Force and Navy Seals, backed up by Marine Force Recon quickly covered down on the gap created by the departing team and resumed their surveillance of Ellsworth Station.

**The Main Complex, 0558 Hours-**

A writhing mass of tentacles burst out of the mouths of the Thing and closed in on the men who turned and ran. Harper and O'Rourke weren't fast enough. The fleshy protuberances wrapped themselves around the two screaming men and slammed them together with enough force to knock them both unconscious, causing them to drop their weapons in the process.

The Thing quickly retracted the two men up into the ceiling where it could replicate the agent, don his clothing, and send the the new incarnation away before the plane arrived.

Harrison turned back and fired at the Thing and received a spray of acidic fluid to his face and chest. He screamed in pain as the fluid burnt its way through the skin and eye of the left side of his face as well as on his chest. He went to his knees and writhed in pain.

Childs and MacReady opened fire into the Thing and quickly ran out of ammo. MacReady pulled a flare out and looked to Childs, "There's another way out of here back toward the way we came!"

Childs followed the limping pilot, grabbed him to move him faster, and headed off down the corridor.

"We can still set the cylinders off from back there!" said Childs.

"My idea exactly!" said MacReady who made the mistake of turning his head back to see what was happening. The ceiling rippled as the Thing chased after them. The Thing's weight finally caused the rest of the ceiling to buckle and crack open, spilling the vile beast out to the floor where it sprouted arachnid-like legs and continued on after then, "You gotta be kidding me!"

Childs looked back and saw the pursuing beast, "Fuck! Why the hell did we take this job!"

"Cause the money was good!" was MacReady's reply.

Steven Harrison slowly stood up and watched through blurred vision as the Thing moved away from him. He brought his fingers to his face and felt the cauterized flesh. He swore and then realized that Childs and MacReady were running toward the other side of the station. He knew that there was another entrance there. He looked toward the main entrance and hurried outside to the Gator.

**The Air Above the Station, 0600 Hours-**

The MQ-9 Reaper Unmanned Aerial Vehicle that was orbiting the station picked up movement from the front of the main complex. It focused in on a small Gator being driven along the side of the main complex. The personnel watching this were surprised that the Gator, which had been seen earlier with six men, was not leaving the station. Instead its driver was taking it to the East side of the complex. These images were in turn beamed to the USS Bonhomme Richard and to the CIA's headquarters at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.

**The USS Bonhomme Richard LHD-6, 12 Miles off the Ross Ice Shelf, 0600 Hours-**

Inside the Wasp-Class Amphibious Assault Ship Bonhomme Richard's Command and Control Center a man in a dark suit turned to the ship's Captain, who actually held the rank of Commander and relayed a message from Langely. They were to place the arriving survivors in quarantine and upon confirmation that they were uninfected, were to debrief the survivors and order them to secrecy upon threat of imprisonment.

Word came in from Langley that the MC-130H that was currently in the air on standby was to move in and commence its bombing run in 10 minutes. Langely's order was sent to the aircraft's crew while the troops surrounding the station were to hold their positions and apprehend anyone that may try to escape the installation.

As soon as the order was given the man in the suit looked back to the monitor with the traffic that the UAV was beaming back and watched the progress of the Gator.

**The Main Complex, 0601 Hours-**

While the main body of the Thing was chasing MacReady and Childs a smaller portion of it had broken off and came down from the ceiling. The figure stepped over the knocked down cylinder and trotted out of the main entrance and into the icy cold.

MacReady and Childs reached the end of the corridor and turned to see the Thing approaching them on its spidery legs.

MacReady looked around and saw a fire axe that was encased behind a pane of glass. He broke the glass with his elbow and grabbed the axe.

"I don't think that's going to be a whole lot of help!" said Childs.

"I don't care," MacReady answered, "If it follows us outside I'm going down swinging!"

The Thing slowed down and stopped in front of the two men who stood in front of the door. Instead of running outside they just stood and watched the Thing. Childs brought out a flare and held it up for the Thing to see.

"You want us then you're going to die," said Childs.

The Thing formed the face of Dr. Blair and spoke: "If you light that then you will die."

"So will you!" yelled MacReady who took a step back toward the door.

"Not all of me."

The Thing's words hung in the air as Childs and MacReady realized that they had been outmaneuvered by the Thing.

"Oh shit," said Childs.

The image of Blair smiled coldly, "Time to die."

Before the Thing could lunge at the two men the door burst open and Steven Harrison stepped in from the cold.

MacReady took one look at the horrifically scared station commander and saw that his remaining eye burned with anger.

"The Gator!" Harrison said to the two men as he walked forward to get revenge on the beast for the deaths of his crew, "GO!"

Childs grabbed MacReady by the shoulder, spun him around, and the two of them made a break for the Gator.

Harrison looked at the Thing which had just formed the face of Gordon Howell and felt his blood rise. This was it; his wounds were torturing him with pain and his energy was almost gone. He knew that he wasn't going to survive but he wasn't about to die in vain, this was about revenge. He'd take the damn thing with him.

The Howell-Thing spoke: "This won't matter."

"It matters to me," was Harrison's response as he activated the flare in the oxygen saturated environment and got his revenge on the Thing.

**Outside, 0603 Hours-**

The blast threw MacReady onto the frozen ground three feet before they reached the Gator. As luck would have it, or as Harrison had intentionally done, the Gator was 30 feet away from the building and was spared from most of the effects of the blast. Fiery debris rained down around them and a burning chunk of the building landed in the bed of the Gator but otherwise both men were unharmed.

**The Main Complex, 0603 Hours-**

The conflagration raced through the corridors of the Main Complex in a blindingly hot fury that incinerated whatever it touched including the Thing. As the fire licked its flesh and caused the structure to crash down upon it, the Thing managed one final thought before it succumbed to the blaze: Part of it still lived.

**The USS Bonhomme Richard, 0604 Hours-**

The man in the suit and the others in the ship's CIC Center as well as viewers at the CIA, NSA, and Pentagon watched in amazement as Ellsworth Station's main structure went up in a ball of flame and collapsed inside itself. Even more amazing were the _three _survivors who had escaped. One was on foot while the other two climbed aboard the Gator and drove off.

"Keep tracking them," said the man, "Have our people on the ground intercept them."

The man's order was relayed as was the go ahead to destroy the station in five minutes.

**Leaving the perimeter, 0605 Hours-**

The O'Rourke-Thing ran as fast away from the station as it could. It knew it had very little time to make it away before the plane dropped its payload. It banked on running into the military personnel that it reasoned would be set up around the perimeter and from there it would use its identity as CIA Declan O'Rourke to talk its way off the continent.

R.J. MacReady sat shotgun while Childs raced the Gator as fast as he could push it to get away from the station. He looked up into the partly cloudy night and could make out the lights of an approaching aircraft.

"Shit its on its way!"

"How much longer?" came Childs' reply.

"Not much longer!"

"What's that?" asked Childs who noticed something moving up ahead, "Is that someone?"

"Or something," said MacReady who could make out a figure fleeing on foot, "Step on it!"

**The USS Bonhomme Richard, 0606 Hours-**

The man in the suit and the ship's captain watched as the Gator closed in on the running man.

"Sir," said a young lieutenant junior grade, "The aircraft is ready to deploy its payload."

"Tell them to hold," said the man in the suit, "Let's give these people one last chance."

"Yes sir," said the lieutenant who relayed the order to the plane's crew.

**The Perimeter, 0606 Hours-**

The O'Rourke-Thing didn't hear the Gator's approach until it was too late.

As Childs brought the Gator alongside the fleeing Thing, MacReady swung the fire axe and hit the Thing in the back. The Thing stumbled and fell forward onto the frozen ground. Childs drove past the Thing and then threw the Gator into reverse, running the Thing over. He rolled off of it and then pulled next to it.

On the ground the Thing felt its human-replicated bones snap as the utility vehicle ran it over. It shifted its body's composition and forced its arms and legs to elongate. It raised its head up off the ice and roared.

Before the Thing could act MacReady pulled out the J&B Whiskey bottle, took a quick drink, and poured most of the liquor over the Thing, as soon as he was done Childs tossed a lit flare onto the beast which caused it to go up into flames.

"FUCK YOU!" Childs and MacReady said simultaneously and drove off, leaving the enraged Thing to struggle against its wounds and the flames.

**The USS Bonhomme Richard, 0607 Hours-**

"You see that?" asked the ship's captain, "They just axed and torched one of their own!"

The man in the suit had an idea as to why the two men had done this to the other figure and soon his suspicion was confirmed as the UAV's broadcast images showed that the figure's body had began to mutate into something inhuman.

"Give the order to destroy the station," said the agent who added, "Have a team pick those two up and screen them. I'd like to speak with them."

"Yes sir," said the lieutenant j.g. who gave the go-ahead to the plane's crew.

**Ellsworth Station, 0608 Hours-**

The GBU-43/B detonated in a blinding flash that sent a blast wave of heat and violence out that crashed into the station. The fury of the weapon tore through the station's perimeter, obliterating everything it touched. Its heat burned everything into nothing, building, vehicle, and Thing alike.

The scalding heat of the bomb's blast incinerated the Thing and erased it and its genetically programmed purpose from existence. The last thing that it did, as it watched the plane drop its payload, was to seethe in anger at MacReady and Childs.

**Outside the blast radius, 0608 Hours-**

The shockwave had knocked Childs and MacReady forward in their seats. Childs slammed on the brakes and both men turned to look back toward the station; where the station once was had become a burning cauldron of fire.

Childs looked around and saw a group of armed, white-clad men approaching and said to MacReady, "Think its dead?"

Something inside MacReady told him that the Thing and all of its incarnations was indeed dead. He really had no way of knowing for certain but he had a gut feeling that the Thing was no more. He smiled at the thought and reached into his jacket pocket. He was thankful that he hadn't completely exhausted the alcohol on the Thing. He then unscrewed the cap of the J&B Whiskey bottle and took a drink. Handing the bottle to Childs, who took a drink, he answered, "Yeah, its dead," he looked up at the dark sky and added, "First Goddamn week of winter."

**Author's Note-**

There really was an Ellsworth Station in Antarctica. The base was named after explore Lincoln Ellsworth and was commissioned in 1957 by the United States. In 1959 it was handed over to Argentina and was from then on staffed by a joint US-Argentine research team. The base was abandoned in 1962 and was subsequently claimed by the ice. The Ellsworth Station of this story bears no resemblance to the actual Ellsworth Station. Originally I had intended to have no survivors left at the end but that seemed to bleak so I made the decision to let Kelly and Sparky live; then I decided that MacReady and Childs should live as well, seeing that they had gone through more than anyone else in the story, the way I see it they deserve it.


End file.
